Remembering birthdays of my youth

I turned 18 years old in January of 1965. As a senior in high school, I was involved in school and church activities, and I would, for a nominal fee, type any papers that the high school teachers might need and didn’t have time to type themselves. The typing jobs brought in some extra change, and I enjoyed typing. I considered it easy money.

Toward the end of that, my 18th January, one of our high school English teachers asked me, along with two of my friends, Jane Goggans and Hugh Winsett, to come see her. We were surprised to be offered jobs at the new hotel she and her husband had just opened. Thus, the three of us began our first job “working with the public.” We loved every minute of it. A German chef who stood command over the kitchen, told us what a terrible job we were doing almost daily. Mrs. Jennings and our customers thought we were doing fine. To us, that’s all that mattered.