Going to Gard's

I started at Gard’s Business College the summer of 1932. The Great Depression was well under way. Times were hard. I, for one, was not fully aware of that or how serious things really were until I left home and was out in the big world. I soon found out that it was quite different than the security of the loving home I'd grown up in.

Gard's was just a few blocks from where I was living with Mrs. M and her sister Miss V. The first day at school I got "turned around" on the way back. Luckily I met a kind looking person and asked for directions who set me straight. That was a little scary.

After the first few days of getting schedules and all the preliminaries over with, things just seemed to fall in place. After that my time was spent mostly between work and school. I worked one half day and attended school the other half!

I'd had typing and the fundamentals of bookkeeping so that was a little boost. Shorthand was something else, and I did a lot of homework on that as I had time after getting home from school and time to fix the peanut butter sandwiches for supper! I received my certificate at least (I couldn't pass it now). I liked my teacher who was fun loving and young and smart too. My English teacher was likeable and helpful, I thought.

I became acquainted with and friends to some of the other country (and city) kids. Some of the students were there working their way through same as I was doing.

Jobs were becoming hard to find. The school was supposed to help the students get jobs, if they qualified. I started working at the American Red Cross while still at Mrs. M's. I did typing, filing, and some dictation. There were some strange cases to type up: some funny, some sad.

While there I saw a Want Ad from The Farm Bureau Office for a stenographer. Their office was in the courthouse, so I bought me a new pink blouse and navy blue skirt and wrote up an application (as my teacher had taught me) and applied for the job. In the meantime I had left Mrs. M's and was working for the Pitman family as a hired girl. Not long after that, Mr. Orr from the Farm Bureau office called offering me the job. I remember him asking if $14.00 per week sounded all right. (I was getting $2.00 and room and board at the time). Yes it did!

Here is where the story "changes gears". Goodbye Gard’s, Mrs. M., and Miss V. I'd applied for a job at Quaker Oats, somewhere along the line, and worked there for a time. I had gone back there two or three times. One of my friends from Gard's had found a job there and suggested I try, and if the first time didn't work, keep going back. The last time I got to have an interview. I asked for a secretarial job, but they didn't have an opening so they asked if I'd be interested in working in the Aunt Jemima Pancake Flour Department. Needless to say I said "yes". I had to quit that job, much to my dismay. The lady I was staying with became ill and asked me to stay there. Foresight is better than hindsight.

If my memory serves me right, this is the sum and substance of my so-called College Education.

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