Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
In a world where storytelling has been our link to the past since the days of cave drawings, there exists a timeless tradition. It's the art of passing down knowledge, and for Military Veterans, it's a crucial piece of their legacy. Join us on the Veterans Archives Podcast, where we dive deep into the heartwarming and awe-inspiring stories of those who served, no matter when or where.
Here, Veterans get the chance to be the authors of their own narratives. Through guided interviews in a relaxed and safe environment, they paint their experiences with their own words and unique voices. The result? A memory card in a presentation box, a precious gift they can share however they please.
But that's not all. These stories find a secure home in our archive, a treasure chest of experiences for future generations to explore. The best part? It's all a gift to the Veteran – our way of saying thank you for their service.
Tune in to the Veterans Archives Podcast, where history, heroism, and heartwarming tales come to life.
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Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
Finding Purpose: A Shirley Adams' Journey Through Leadership & Faith
What happens when a natural leader desperately tries to avoid the spotlight? Shirley Adams never wanted to stand out, but life had other plans. From being volunteered as platoon leader in Army basic training to becoming an HR executive decades later, leadership positions kept finding her despite her best efforts to remain invisible.
Born in Detroit in 1965 before moving to Orlando as a child, Shirley joined the Army in 1983 on the "buddy program" with her best friend when she discovered the Navy had a year-long waiting period for female recruits. What followed was a journey through military service as an Army cook in Germany, an unexpected pregnancy that led to an honorable discharge, and the beginning of civilian life as a young mother navigating the challenges of an unhealthy first marriage.
When Shirley took what she thought would be a temporary production job at Correct Craft boat manufacturing where her father worked, she couldn't have imagined it would become a 27-year career trajectory that would see her rise through purchasing into human resources and eventually senior leadership. Along the way, she began college at 39, earned her MBA at 47, and discovered her gift for organization during international mission trips.
Shirley's story is a powerful reminder of life's unexpected paths. Now working as an HR Director at a Presbyterian church after "retiring" at 50, she balances caring for grandchildren and supporting her husband through Alzheimer's while teaching as an adjunct professor. Her message resonates with clarity: "Don't operate out of fear. If you don't know something, learn it. Be a lifelong learner... It's never too late, and put yourself outside your comfort zone. You'll be so richly rewarded."
Join us for this compelling conversation about resilience, faith, reluctant leadership, and embracing the opportunities that arrive when we least expect them. Subscribe to hear more stories of ordinary people living extraordinary lives through service and purpose.
So today is Tuesday, May 13th. We're talking with Shirley Adams, who served in the United States Army. So good morning, Shirley.
Speaker 2:Good morning.
Speaker 1:Great to see you.
Speaker 2:Good to see you.
Speaker 1:And you know, after talking with you on the phone and realizing that you knew my son, this is kind of an honor for me.
Speaker 2:So I'm very excited. Well, you should be. You have a great son.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:He is absolutely adorable. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you, I like him too. Yeah, he's a good kid, but not just because I'm his dad, yeah, so we'll start out really simple this morning. When and where were you born?
Speaker 2:I was born in Detroit, Michigan, on March 17th 1965.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right. Just a month before me, actually, I was born. April 7th 1965. Okay, Not Detroit, though In Lansing.
Speaker 2:In.
Speaker 1:Lansing. Okay, yeah, so did you grow up in Detroit?
Speaker 2:Until I was seven, my parents moved down here. We lived in Detroit and there was a lot of turbulence going on in Detroit during those years and my grandfather lived here in Orlando, and so he said hey, come down to Orlando, I'll get you a job where I work. And we moved here in 1972.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, so any brothers or sisters?
Speaker 2:I have a sister who is 11 months younger than me.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, so you're the older sister.
Speaker 2:I am.
Speaker 1:Do you act like an older sister? Just curious.
Speaker 2:Always.
Speaker 1:All right, I would expect nothing less. Yeah, my wife is an older sister and I have an older sister, and they're very similar in those respects.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the older sister. They're expected, a lot more is expected of them. Yep, so do you have many memories of Detroit when you were growing up? Yes, like good memories of going to my grandparents' house and I think probably. Well, I remember trick-or-treating as a kid and it was always very cold, unlike here where it can be pretty warm. Yeah, so stuff like that. And then we would go back and visit, of course, family.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, All right. And what about your parents? Tell me a little bit about them. What did your dad do and what?
Speaker 2:did your mom do? My mom was born in Detroit and she ended up retiring. She was a nurse as a retired nurse and then my dad. He had to quit school really young to take care of his mom, but his dad lived here and so we ended up moving here when I was seven and so he ended up going to work for Correct Craft, which is a boat manufacturing company, because his dad worked there and then ultimately in the end, I ended up working there as well, for 27 years, so kind of a family thing. It was a family thing. Yep.
Speaker 2:And my son ended up working there for a little bit too.
Speaker 1:Well, it's kind of good that he was able to I mean because I know it was. Things were getting pretty bad in Detroit at that time. It's kind of nice that he was able to come down here and find work and be able to raise a family.
Speaker 2:Jobs were hard during that time and so you know, trying to find a good job and, and, and he did, and he stayed until he retired.
Speaker 1:Okay, so tell me about growing up in Florida in the seventies. I mean, I remember growing up in Michigan in the seventies. I think it was probably completely different.
Speaker 2:Well, it was. Yes, disney was still new, disney had just opened right before we came here and it wasn't nearly as crowded, of course, as it is now Right, and there were tons of orange groves everywhere. So we used to play in the orange groves right near here, and I actually grew up in a house not too far from here and we would go play hide andseek in the orange groves. So it was a little bit different. You came in when the lights. You know when my dad would say come in, when the street lights come on, you better be in the house. Right.
Speaker 2:And other than that, it was, you know, riding your bicycles every day and swimming every day, and, you know, during the summer we were in the pool all the time.
Speaker 1:So lots of sun.
Speaker 2:Yep Lots of friends. Uh-huh. Yeah, it was great, it was a good life. Well good. How was school? School for me was I was okay, just average, uh-huh. I did ROTC when I was in high school, cause I always wanted to join the Navy because there was a Navy base, a recruiting base here. Uh-huh.
Speaker 2:And, um, I remember driving past they had like a big replica of a you know a warship there and where they were training the soldiers and you could go drive past there and see the soldiers they were in. They were in basic training and you know, they were marching and stuff and I'm like I want to do that one day. And so got into high school and my high school had Navy ROTC and loved it. I loved it.
Speaker 1:Oh well, so was there? Was there military in your family, or was?
Speaker 2:this Wow, I'm the first one.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:I don't know why.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you didn't end up joining the Navy though.
Speaker 2:I didn't join the Navy. Uh got to senior year of high school and time to make that commitment and um, coming out, the Navy had a one-year waiting period for women going in. Oh. And when you're 18, a year sounds like a long time. And my best friend was also in ROTC with me and her dad was retired Air Force and we decided, for whatever reason, we were going to join the Army, because the Army was taking girls right away. Yeah, and so we joined the Army.
Speaker 1:On the buddy program.
Speaker 2:On the buddy program.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Which only guarantees to keep you together through AIT.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, they're pretty good with that guarantee.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, we were in basic training together. We went into basic training together and, um it, like any friendship there's always seems to be like one person who's stronger over the other has a stronger personality and, and my friend had a really strong personality. I am the laid back, easygoing person and so I just wanted to make it through basic training, you know, without being seen. So, you know, I was just hoping I could go in there, you know, because being yelled at is not high on my list of things that I enjoy. And so when they asked, you know, right in through basic training, they asked who can march, who knows how to march, who was in band or who was in ROTC?
Speaker 2:I did not raise my hand and I was pretty tall already, so I was already in the back row for girls at that time and I didn't raise my hand. But you know, my friend Charlotte boy, her hand went straight up, you know, and she was all about being in charge and whatnot, and so they were picking, you know, platoon leaders and squad leaders and all that stuff. So they're doing squad leaders, I think, first, and she became a squad leader and I'm just fine, sit standing in the back and one day. We're in line, we're in formation and the drill sergeant comes right up behind me and my maiden name is Oakley and he's like Oakley be in my office at whatever time. I thought I was going to die and I'm like what is going on? So I show up in the office and he and the other drill sergeant were there. We had two drill sergeants and he's like we noticed you know how to march. I'm like oh dang.
Speaker 1:So much for under the radar, huh.
Speaker 2:So much for under the radar. And so they said, well, we're going to make you the platoon leader. And I'm like, oh no, this is not what I wanted at all. Right, and it wasn't an option. Right, it wasn't an option. And so I ended up staying the platoon leader the entire time, which was fine. I think that wasn't the first time that that had happened, where I had been put in like a leadership position just out of the blue. It actually happened in high school too, because when I was in ROTC one summer, they actually took us out and they did a uh, we did a week's worth of of basic training in the Navy ROTC, and the same thing happened there.
Speaker 2:Sort of, they made me the, the leader of that group, um, even though I didn't want it, and so, yeah, that sort of did it.
Speaker 1:So it sounds like people see in you this leadership quality. That's just there.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I don't think they do Try to be quiet. Yeah, get through.
Speaker 1:Well, some of the best leaders are chosen, not the people that raise their hands and try and be leaders, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Actually, basic training put a little bit of a strain on our friendship on. Charlotte's friendship and because she wanted to be the leader and I didn't, and so then I ended up being the leader over her and I mean it was fine but, as I started, I was like wow, you can be really irritating, and so we're still friends now. I can only take her in small doses.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think you see it from a different perspective right, when you're a leader and you're ultimately responsible, you start to kind of see the things that people do that maybe you didn't see when you were flying under the radar.
Speaker 2:That is true. Yeah, very true.
Speaker 1:So basic training was what? Was it? 12 weeks.
Speaker 2:It was eight weeks. Yeah, pretty true. So basic training was what? Was it? 12 weeks? It was eight weeks, eight weeks, okay, yeah, because that was the 80s. Yeah, so I went in and we left for basic training the day after Thanksgiving 1983.
Speaker 1:Interesting. I think the military does that. I went to basic training the day after Christmas in 1984. I took a gap year before I did anything.
Speaker 2:I think the horrible thing, though, was because it was Christmas they sent us home from basic training for a week. How hard was that. That was horrible.
Speaker 1:I mean not coming home.
Speaker 2:Coming home was great.
Speaker 1:You knew you had to go back though, but going back was traumatic. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was horrible.
Speaker 1:It's like going to basic training all over again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's horrible. It's like going to basic training all over again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, thank you.
Speaker 2:I think they did extend us out, maybe a couple of weeks because of that.
Speaker 1:Okay, did you go to Fort Jackson?
Speaker 2:I did Okay, relaxing in Jackson.
Speaker 1:That's where all the women went in the 80s, I think.
Speaker 2:I believe so.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:There were a lot of us.
Speaker 1:The military was really just starting to integrate males and females at the time.
Speaker 2:Right, we would have. The only time that we saw the males was potentially near chow time, because they were having chow at the same time, but other than that they kept us pretty well separated.
Speaker 1:Yeah, probably not a bad idea yeah, probably not yeah. Yeah, so you get through basic training.
Speaker 2:I did get through basic training.
Speaker 1:And you were there kind of at a good time of year, right. It wasn't ridiculously hot and sweaty, it was pretty cold yeah.
Speaker 2:And it was really cold. They would have like heating tents where they'd have to take us in there just to warm us up okay, yeah, anything else stand out in basic training or any other um, I um, well, I had to go to like little extra boot camp because I wasn't really great at push-ups and. And so, after the day was over, you'd have to go do weight training, and those of us that got selected out but just had to make it through the minimum for push-ups. But other than that it was fine.
Speaker 2:I didn't really. I mean, I learned a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And so you did you come home between basic and AIT, or did you just go right to AIT?
Speaker 2:Went straight to AIT. My mom and my stepdad and my sister came up for graduation. I think we got an afternoon with them after graduation and I don't think we had the next day. I think it was really just that one day, yeah, and then right on into AIT. It was really just that one day and then right on into AIT. But going back to MEPS, when you're choosing what you're going to be, so the recruiters were trying to get me to become an MP because of my height.
Speaker 2:But my friend Charlotte was short and needed to lose weight before we could even get to basic training, and so I had thought or we had thought, I don't know who thought it up, maybe her because she was a stronger personality I thought one day I wanted to own my own restaurant. I'm trying to think farther out ahead what can I get out of this?
Speaker 2:And I was like, oh you know, owning a my own restaurant would be a something really cool. And so, um, we ended up becoming army cooks. Now, charlotte's dad was furious because he was an officer in the air force oh yeah and um, but charlotte had fewer options than I did, and so I'm being so okay, well, we'll do this. I'm thinking all right how hard is it to be a cook? It cannot be that hard. Oh.
Speaker 1:It's ridiculously hard.
Speaker 2:It is ridiculously hard. There's a lot to learn, but the thing is is you're on, everybody's got to eat three times a day, and guess when the cooks start in the morning? They start at two and they do not finish until they're done cleaning after dinner. And so if you're lucky enough to be in a unit that has enough cooks to have two shifts, good to go. But if you're not, it is tiring.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work and doggone it.
Speaker 2:They got to eat seven days a week.
Speaker 1:That's right. Yeah, that doesn't stop.
Speaker 2:Yeah it doesn't stop, so it was exhausting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so how is AIT for cooks? A lot of math actually.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a lot of math, because you're trying to learn how to use this industrial equipment without chopping off all your fingers equipment without chopping off all your fingers. But then it's taking these recipes and either multiplying them or contracting them, you know with math, of course, but other than that it was. You know it was fine and just you know learning regulations is actually a lot into it to make sure you're not giving somebody food poisoning. Right right. More difficult than I anticipated.
Speaker 1:And I think it's funny because I remember math in high school thinking I'll never use this Me too. I'm not an army cook, but I do a lot of cooking and I find myself using algebra all the time, right right To solve for either upscaling or downscaling a recipe.
Speaker 2:My biggest problem in downscaling after I got out of the military was mashed potatoes. Like we had lots of mashed potatoes.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Scale that down now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you don't need mashed potatoes for 100 people.
Speaker 2:Exactly. That's funny, but I mean I can whip up a meal for a bunch of people.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh. That's funny because I remember when I first got married a long time ago, I was used to cooking for a family, and it was just her and I, and we had moved to Virginia Beach. So I'm cooking nachos for eight 10 people and it's just the two of us.
Speaker 2:I think we both gained a few pounds because of that and you will gain a few pounds while you're doing that. Because, yeah, you've got to taste test everything, right. And then when I was in my regular unit, we would eat like before and after. So you have to be careful you don't eat twice.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly Right. Two dinners, two breakfasts, exactly Whatever it is. So how long was your AIT? Twice Right, exactly Right. Two dinners, two breakfasts whatever it is. So you uh, you get so how long was your AIT? Ait was also eight weeks?
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, and then from what? So? What happens from there? So, what happens from there? We're in a formation and, um, they're just uh, naming out where you're going where you're being stationed because you have no idea where you're going to go and Charlotte and I both got sent to Germany. We were going to Germany, so then you get to come home.
Speaker 2:They sent us home for a week in between AIT and then being sent over to Germany, and so then went into Ramstein and then into Frankfurt and then got sent to our base, which was in Gelnhausen. Charlotte ended up staying in Frankfurt, and then I went to a tiny little base in Gelnhausen, germany.
Speaker 1:Right, that didn't have enough cooks for two shifts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sometimes we did. Sometimes we would join together with other units so that we could make it, because you can't do that for very long without having a break.
Speaker 1:Right, I can only imagine, or we would take turns for the weekends for the different units, because I was in an HHC unit. Okay, and how was Germany?
Speaker 2:Gorgeous, beautiful, cold, but Cold, but absolutely beautiful. The base that I was at used to be a World War II German base and so it was gorgeous and the barracks were like block. I mean, it was just very idyllic. It had cobblestone streets still in the middle of it and it had this beautiful like pond that used to be a swimming pool for officers. So it was really very, uh, different. Um, uh, and it was, and the countryside was just really hilly, just gorgeous, beautiful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so did you have off time to enjoy all of that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I did have off time. In fact that's how I met my first husband. He was also in the military, we were in the same unit and he was a mechanic and so, yeah, you would get to go on your off time and, of course, weekends you would get to go on your off time and, of course, weekends you would get to go. I would go to Frankfurt to visit Charlotte, and a couple of my other friends were nearby that went to basic training, but then you got to go into the countryside. It was really very pretty.
Speaker 1:Oh, I've never been in Germany. I've talked to a lot of people who have I want to go back. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how about that I?
Speaker 2:went on the Rhine River and my first husband, stephen he had his car was shipped over to him, so we went on the Autobahn, which was scary.
Speaker 1:Don't like driving fast, no.
Speaker 2:Got to go to a couple of castles. Yeah, yeah, very pretty yeah.
Speaker 1:Is there anything about Germany that really stands out to you, Like if you think about back to that, what's like one thing that's just really sticks in your head?
Speaker 2:Um. So Steven and I actually ended up. We we um got married, but we lived off post, and I think what stands out to me most is just the little town of Gelnhausen. They would roll up the streets practically at 12 o'clock on Saturdays and then there was nothing happening all through Sunday. So, it was just very more laid back. I think the other thing that stands out to me about Germany was the people in southern Germany were much more welcoming of Americans than the people in northern Germany were.
Speaker 1:Oh, Wow, do you think that's because in northern Germany that was more of a fighting thing and in southern Germany it was more of a liberation thing?
Speaker 2:It could be. Yeah, it definitely could be, because it was only the 80s. So now you're only talking about 35, 40 years since the end of the war Still not enough time, I don't think had passed.
Speaker 1:Which is interesting because you talk about World War II now. It seems so far away. So far away, but when we were growing up, you know, Vietnam was kind of still going on. Right. And it had maybe just ended, but World War II was still something. There was lots of movies made about it. People still talked about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, when you went to Frankfurt you could see in the buildings themselves in downtown Frankfurt where they had literally built on top of the ruins, and so you would have like this much where you could see the original foundation of the building and then where they just built up and it's just was pretty amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you probably wouldn't even see that today.
Speaker 2:No, you wouldn't even notice it today.
Speaker 1:It's all gone.
Speaker 2:But they would tell you about it then.
Speaker 1:Absolutely yeah, yeah. So how long were you in Germany?
Speaker 2:I guess it would have been about a year, a year and a half, a little over a year and a half. About a year and a half.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then so did you rotate back stateside or did you get out of the Army?
Speaker 2:So, when. Stephen and I got married. I was pregnant and at that time, because we were in a tiny village, we did have a medical unit there, but nothing that was spectacular. You'd have to go back to Frankfurt to get a real doctor and the first question they ask you is are you going to have an abortion?
Speaker 2:That was the very first question in 1984, late 1984. And I said no, and so then I only had a few options back then. They were not as you were talking about. Women were still just really being integrated into the military.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:There was no, they didn't have a plan.
Speaker 1:No, basically, it's a great way to get kicked out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you didn't get kicked out. You had a couple of options. One you could have an abortion. Right. Number two because I was in an HAC unit. We would go to the field all the time at the drop of a pin to do our planned war games and you had to be ready to go in 15 minutes. Right.
Speaker 2:Well, if you've got a child, you better have a good support system. I didn't have that support system over there, and most wives of other military men thought you were trying to steal their husband, and so they were none too friendly towards you.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:None too friendly. The third option was send your child home. Let somebody else raise your child Well, my parents were working and that's not what I was going to do or you could take an honorable discharge. That was really my only option.
Speaker 2:So I took an honorable discharge and stayed, I think, all the way until they didn't discharge me, until I was like seven months pregnant, but because I didn't have they did not have, I didn't have an OB, I did not have regular medical care I ended up getting like really sick. I had a really bad kidney infection when I was being discharged. Oh. And that was horrible. So I remember flying home I was really sick and my kidney was so swollen it was like half sticking out my back.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so then they flew me home, flew back to Fort Jackson to get out processed, still didn't see a doctor, and then they flew me home and that night I'm like you've got to take me to the hospital and so, because I was still the military was still actually in charge of my care, we went to the Navy base, the Navy hospital here in Orlando, and of course I think I spent a week in the hospital and yeah, and then ultimately she ended up being born there. Oh okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:So your daughter is your oldest. My daughter is my oldest.
Speaker 2:And so the military paid for the birth and I think I had to pay for the diapers, which was like maybe three bucks at the time. So she was pretty cheap, she was a bargain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, not a bad deal. So she was born in 85?
Speaker 2:She was born in July of 85.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I missed, like this, window of being able to have military benefits because I wasn't in a full. I missed the full two years.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:By a few months.
Speaker 1:It's too bad. They can't change some of that.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's fine.
Speaker 1:It's all in the past, right it's all in the past, yeah. Yeah, so you get out now, did your husband.
Speaker 2:So it turns out, the timing was really incredible. He was coming, he was finishing up eight years, so he finished up his eight years like literally right at the end of the pregnancy, and so he actually made it home right before the baby was born.
Speaker 1:Oh well, that's kind of nice.
Speaker 2:The timing was could not. I don't even know how you plan that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, divine intervention. Divine intervention which I truly of nice.
Speaker 1:The timing was could not. I don't even know how you plan that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Divine intervention.
Speaker 2:Divine intervention which I truly believe in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that happens.
Speaker 2:It happens.
Speaker 1:So your daughter's born, your husband's back, yep, what's the next phase?
Speaker 2:So the next phase is, you know, he's. We moved in with my dad for a little bit as we tried to transition, as he was transitioning out of the military, and then Jennifer was born. So it was boom, boom, boom all happening at the same time. And then he is from Massachusetts and he had worked for Marshall's department store prior to going into the military. Okay, and so when he got out of the military, marshall's hired him back to going into the military. Okay, and so when he got out of the military, marshall's hired him back as a store manager, and so but then they transferred us to Jacksonville, and so when she was, when the baby was pretty little, we ended up moving to Jacksonville.
Speaker 2:Okay. And lived there for a couple of years.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh, and then you had another baby in there somewhere.
Speaker 2:Then I had another baby, yep, 14 months later, along comes my son Eric, and I was still pretty young, because I was 20 when I had Jennifer. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then 21, when I had Eric. And then I remember my mom coming up to Jacksonville. They had taken Jennifer for a week so that I could have some bonding time with the new baby and then when they brought her back and they left, I think I cried because I'm like what am I going to do if they both cry at the same time? Right, oh, frightening, I was only 21. Yeah, right. Oh frightening, I was only 21. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think a lot of people don't necessarily get that about folks who join the military right. You joined right out of high school, kind of like you, and I did, yeah, I was 18. Yeah, you do a ton of stuff. Yeah, on an accelerated calendar.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Right and by the time you're 25, like you've had whole life experience, right? The people who are your age don't get right right like how are you having kids at 20 and 21 and being married and doing all the? You're an adult, but you're still a kid right yeah right now.
Speaker 2:I look at them I'm like, wow, you're just a baby. Yeah, I was fully on an adult, making big decisions and all the things.
Speaker 1:Now you have two kids. As they got older, though, were they close enough in age that they my sister and I? I think we're 18 months apart. And we were friends when we were little, so once we got past that screaming, crying stage, you know we were able to entertain each other. Was that kind of the same for you or not?
Speaker 2:Not really, because there's so polar opposites in many things. So my daughter, jennifer, is the, you know she knew what she wanted to be from a very young age. She wanted to be a teacher and you know, just really book smart and reading all the time and all that stuff. And my son, god bless him, um, you know I it's a miracle he graduated from high school but he was full on boy, wanted to be outside in sports and, uh, break in parts of his body. You know, rough and tumble.
Speaker 2:Right so they were really totally opposite. Now they got along, but they were not close friends. They were not friends.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:They ran in two totally different circles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can understand that.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:So you're married, your you're. You're married, your husband's working, you're raising kids.
Speaker 2:So my first husband and I, after we got to Jacksonville, we stayed there for a while. Eric came along and then, um uh, stephen got transferred back to Orlando and was working for them in Orlando, but he had a lot of issues there, you know, and was working for them in Orlando, but he had a lot of issues. Alcoholism is pretty prevalent in the military. Yes.
Speaker 2:And I did not see that while we were in the military, but after we were out it becomes a monster and it's not the way. I just was not going to have my children raised that way. Right. And so you know he didn't want to get help.
Speaker 2:And so we ultimately ended up, you know, divorcing and we're great friends now. In fact, he literally um last week, excuse me, he sent me these YouTube videos that he found of Gelnhausen as it stands today because it closed, that base closed and was absorbed back by the town and they turned it into office buildings and stuff like that. And then, but you could still, somebody had gone through and taken a tour and I was like, wow, it doesn't look the same, but there were things that I recognized almost 40 years ago now.
Speaker 1:That's kind of cool when you can see that happen. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's good that you're able to be friends.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, we couldn't be married and he ultimately did end up getting help for his alcoholism. He ended up moving back to Massachusetts and now he's a big AA proponent and he hasn't had alcohol in a long, long, long decades now, but yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that will definitely change a person. It will. So when you got divorced, then did you go back to work?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so while I was working, while we were married when we lived in Jacksonville, I worked at night at McDonald's at the mall, which was across the street, and then McDonald's wanted to put me through their management training program.
Speaker 1:Because, you're a leader.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and because we moved back here to Orlando, they were like, hey, we have a management training program. But I ultimately ended up not doing that. When Steve and I broke up, my dad got me a job at Correct Craft because I needed a job, and he's like come work for us. And I was like all right, I wanted to become a police officer, believe it or not. And so my mom was furious that I was going to work at Correct Craft. She's like you can only work there a year, you know. You're not going to work in a factory your whole life. I'm like, okay, whatever. And I had applied to the city of Orlando, their police department, and it's a process. If you want to. There's all these steps, check steps along the way and you can be kicked out of the process at any point.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So I made it all the way through and the last is a psychological evaluation and then you're cleared to go on. I did get cleared to go on but they had no white female spots, no white female positions and they're like go apply for the county and they'll hire you right away. But I was already, I had been, was in a, started, was seriously dating my current husband, bill at the time and he was like I can't be married to a police officer, that just no way, that can't happen.
Speaker 2:So then I ended up, did stay with Correct Craft and ended up I never went to college but I did seek a transfer Because I was just doing regular production line work. Yeah, and they had an opening in purchasing. And this is just now when computers are starting to get big Right.
Speaker 1:This is like when they still had the big green screens, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was still DOS.
Speaker 1:Yeah, DOS program oh yes.
Speaker 2:And the monitors were like yeah, they were huge.
Speaker 1:There's a whole segment of society that's listening to this right now that has no idea what we're talking about. No clue, because it's all on your phone now, right, anyway?
Speaker 2:And I took typing in high school. Yeah. So, I figured oh, I can do that and I remember somebody asking me. Well, you know, it involves a lot of computer work and I'm like well, I can type and I will learn the computer, which I did, and back then, you know, of course they weren't teaching. You know we didn't get computer classes in high school.
Speaker 2:We got shorthand and typing and um. So you, I went to the schools. You know they had the classes that you could take for a week. You went and learned word and then you went and learned Excel and PowerPoint and you know those were great classes for getting you the basics and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:So I was in purchasing for a year and a half. Really loved it, Love, love, loved it, Love the manufacturing. I am a huge proponent of manufacturing, I love manufacturing. And then they came and tapped me on the shoulder and said hey, we have this job in personnel and Corecraft is a. They were founded in 1925, family owned company.
Speaker 2:And so I said, oh, I had a decision to make at that time and they gave me the weekend to think about it. I knew nothing about HR. And the lady came over from HR and she's like, oh, you need to take this job you weekend to think about it. I knew nothing about HR. And the lady came over from HR and she's like, oh, you need to take this job, you'll know everything about everybody. And I'm like, oh, that was like a nightmare.
Speaker 2:I don't want to know anything about anybody. I just want to do my thing.
Speaker 1:I want to purchase stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want to purchase stuff, and so I had a really good mentor. He was the vice president of production and I went and talked to him and I said well, I see my path going this way. He's like you don't know that your path will end up that way, but if you don't take this now, you'll never know. And so I was like he was right. So I took the job. I just said you know, please just make sure that I get the right training, because that job did payroll every week.
Speaker 2:And for me that was like a huge responsibility. Well, it is a big responsibility. Now I can do it in my sleep, but, um, I think of the first 90 days. That's probably what kept me up most at night, making sure that, cause I knew everybody. You know most people live paycheck to paycheck, and so for me that was a big deal. I didn't want anybody to miss out on that, so they did. They sent me to school. I started taking classes at Rollins learning how to do things, payroll courses and HR courses, and then, along the way, the company itself started to change. They were in their third generation.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And somebody along the way said you know, if you want to keep your job, you're going to have to go to college. I was like, oh my gosh, by now my son's 18. He had just graduated from high school and my I was 39 and. I went to Valencia College here in Orlando and my first night of class I'm like thinking I'm really old at 39.
Speaker 1:Yeah, super old.
Speaker 2:Super old. I'm like I'm going to be the oldest person in class and I'm just starting at the beginning and I had to take these like remedial math classes before I could even take math. And the first night in class there's one of my son's friends high school friends is in the class with me and I'm like, well, this is not intimidating at all Right.
Speaker 2:And so I'm texting Eric and I'm like, oh, so-and-so's in class with me, and he's getting a text from his friend dude, your mom's in class with me. I was like, oh, but I made it. It took me six years to get my undergrad degree, and by that time they were now requiring master's degrees. So if you wanted to stay, I was already in a senior leadership position and so I had the job long before I had the title. Right.
Speaker 2:I was doing it, and so they paid for my master's degree as well, and so my best friend, she was the executive vice president. We went and did our master's degrees at the same time. It was great at UCF.
Speaker 1:So you got to do the buddy program at UCF then.
Speaker 2:Did the buddy program at UCF. I was going to get a master's in psychology, because psychology and HR sort of go hand in hand. Yeah, but my boss, bill Yergin he is the president still of Corecraft he's like, oh, you'd be way more valuable if you had an MBA. And so I'm like, well, you're paying for it, so I'll get the MBA whatever you want. And I did, and it was an amazing experience. Yeah. So how old were you when you got your master's degree then? So well, I just turned 60 this year, so I think I was like maybe 47. Okay.
Speaker 1:All right, very similar. I got my undergrad only because I was going to OCS and had to have a degree to get my commission, but then I had a bunch of VA money left over, so I got my master's, but I finally got it when I was 50. Really, and that's the other thing too.
Speaker 1:A lot of people that I talk to from the military, go to college later on in life. Colleges, don't forget, because I went to community college right out of high school and totally bombed Like every single class bombed. So probably 30 years later I want to go back and get my degree. So I go back to community college. They put me on academic probation based on my grades from 30 years ago.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:So yes, I had to pay for it. The VA wouldn't pay for my college until I got off academic probation, so I had to do everything on my own for, like that first you know semester. But yeah, they don't forget.
Speaker 2:They don't forget. Well, I ended up getting straight A's all the way through college, and especially towards the end. I was doing accelerated classes through Palm Beach Atlantic, so the classes flipped over every six weeks. Yeah through Palm Beach Atlantic. So the classes flipped over every six weeks, yeah, and that last year I took a ton because I just powered through it to get. I was going to school like every night. I'm like, I'll see you guys when I'm done.
Speaker 2:Right, and my family, thankfully, my husband was very supportive, and so I had a good support system underneath, so my daughter and I, I think, graduated near the same time.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's kind of cool. Yeah, did you walk for your degrees? Okay, I was curious.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I did. I was like man, I'm walking, I got this, I'm walking.
Speaker 1:Because I walked for my associate's degree but I didn't walk for my undergrad or my graduate degree. I was like ah, I'm just done.
Speaker 2:Well, the graduate degree. You know, it was a cohort and we all got pretty tight and close In fact, we're still friends now and so we all walked together and it was UCF, so it was like massive graduation Right. Yeah, you kind of have to go do that yeah.
Speaker 1:So there's something interesting I'm kind of learning about you is that your friendships sort of stay. Like you know, you went in on the buddy program and you're still friends with that person. You're still friends with your ex-husband. You're friends with the people you went to college with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my very best friend is. We met in the sixth grade, wow, and she actually married a Navy guy. He spent 30 years in the Navy and she moved back here probably, I guess. I guess it's been about maybe eight, nine years ago, because her daughter lives here and was she was becoming a grandma as well and, yeah, we're just best friends 30 years. We just went right back to being best friends.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that grandparent thing sort of sneaks up on you, doesn't?
Speaker 2:it Well, it's the best thing ever.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love it, I love it I retired at 50 from Correct Craft because I had told my daughter and son-in-law, like, if you guys ever, you know, want to have a child, you know I'll take care of the baby. And so I had, you know, gotten to a point where I could, um, retire, so to speak, and um, they were pregnant with, with my first grandchild, ronan. And uh, so I did, and that's when I start. I started teaching at Rollins, then I'm an ed, so I'm an adjunct professor.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay. So like a lot of people, you don't really retire.
Speaker 2:I came out of retirement twice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you kind of find things that you want to do instead of things that you have to do. I think that's how I look at it.
Speaker 2:Well, you do things, yes. So when you're younger, you take the job because you've got to put food on the table Right. And then, when you get older, you take the jobs that you like because it intrigues you, not so much for the money.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. I want to back up just a little bit, though. Tell me about your husband, Bill, and how you met.
Speaker 2:So we met. He was actually some of my friends at Correct Craft. He was renting a room from him, so that's how we met. And then we started dating and he sort of like had nowhere to go for thanksgiving that year, and so I am. The collector of lost souls is how I how I describe it. But if you don't have anywhere to go for the holidays, you're coming to my house okay and um and yeah.
Speaker 2:So we ended up getting married dated for a little over a year and then ended up getting married, dated for a little over a year and then ended up getting married. Jennifer and Eric were young. He was working for the Division of Forestry and he was a dispatcher for forestry at the time. And then, yeah, we lived there at forestry, on the forestry property for I think five years, which was different. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And they didn't charge us. They didn't charge us anything for like the first couple of years. And then they're like, oh yeah, well, we're probably the state we probably should charge you, because they had little houses on the property, on Forestry property, uh-huh and they're like, oh, we probably should charge you something. So they charge us $25 a month. Wow.
Speaker 2:We'll be. But that experience ended up giving us the money to buy our first house. For the down payment I think we used the. We didn't use the VA benefit. Then they had like a first-time homebuyers thing, so we had to stay in that house for seven years and then we ended up moving to this house.
Speaker 1:Okay, and you've been married for how long, then years?
Speaker 2:wow this year will be 36 congratulations yeah, thanks, that's. That's nice.
Speaker 1:It's been quite the challenge, yeah well, I think you know that's a. That's a great message.
Speaker 2:For people, though, like marriage is great, but it's work it is work and my husband has Alzheimer's, so that's a challenge in and of itself, just navigating that.
Speaker 1:Yes, I went through that with my grandfather and then with my stepfather, so it's difficult.
Speaker 2:It is difficult. Yeah, I went through it with my dad as well. He died last year. Okay. He passed on last year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my stepfather passed away a few years ago. Yeah. And my grandmother too, you know. A lot of times we just had to find humor in it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, you know, you have to find the humor in it.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm. I remember when my parents still lived near where I lived They've moved since, but my grandmother had Alzheimer's and we went to brunch. We used to go to this fancy restaurant for brunch and we were all there all the kids, my parents and my grandmother and it's one of those restaurants where they take your coat when you come in. So they took my grandma's coat and halfway to the table she's like where'd my coat go? And she's asking about this coat for like 20 minutes. So finally her mind goes to something else and we're all sitting around the table looking at the menus and I looked over and I said, grandma, where's your coat at?
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I thought my mom was going to kill me.
Speaker 2:That is something my son would do.
Speaker 1:But we still share that story. So yeah, I mean it's sad and it's difficult, but you can choose to be sad about it or you can find something to help you through it.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:You find yourself in that situation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I have like a really good support system. Yeah. I've got my well. My mom lives with me, but that's another story. But my kids, they're great. My sister is really great. So we have a good support system.
Speaker 1:That's good, and your kids got along with Bill.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, I mean during the teenage years it was a little turbulent, but teenage years are not turbulent.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, but we survived, everybody survived into adulthood.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, that's good.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's good. So your daughter is currently teaching.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's an elementary school teacher. That's what she wanted to be her whole life and when she graduated college in three years, not four and went straight into teaching, so she was 21 and teaching kindergarten and, yeah, I was very proud. So she was 21 and teaching kindergarten and I yeah, it was I was very proud. So she's a gifted teacher now and I think she's probably what, 18 years in now Wow, teaching. Yeah, she's got three kids of her own, married, and both my kids live within two miles.
Speaker 1:That's gotta be, great as a grandmother.
Speaker 2:It is yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm curious though. So like, when the grandkids come over and when they leave, do you find yourself sleeping for like two days after they're gone, cause my grand, my granddaughter, wears me out?
Speaker 2:So while we had Ronan full time Okay, um, and so that's the reason why I retired at 50 was to take care of him. So I'd pick him up in the mornings from their house, bring him back here. But I had to learn how to be a mom all over again. I forgot how hard it was to be a mom and how exhausting it was, but I did, we did it and it was like the best thing ever. And then Scarlett came along. Those two are 18 months apart, exactly 18 months apart, and I was like, wow, it was easy with one, and so now I've got two. And so, yeah, so my daughter, I'd go pick the kids up, but she'd come home and, especially with Ronan, I'd give her her child and her dinner because we would coordinate.
Speaker 2:I'd do the cooking because she can't cook, and yeah, so it worked. So now I'm sort of in the groove. It doesn't bother me. Now there's three of them.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, well, and you're young, yeah, big picture.
Speaker 2:Yeah, big picture.
Speaker 1:Right, I like to think 60's young, but my kids don't think so.
Speaker 2:I know I think 60's young. Yeah, my body's telling me otherwise. In some aspects, right.
Speaker 1:We don't bounce like we used to.
Speaker 2:No, it's harder to get up off the floor.
Speaker 1:Yes, it definitely is, so you're an adjunct professor as well. I am, so you're an adjunct professor as well.
Speaker 2:I am, and two years ago a friend of mine that I went to high school with and church with, he had asked me to go out for coffee and so we met. He needed an HR director and he told me he's like oh yeah, I'm working for First Presbyterian Church now and he's like we need an HR director because ours is retiring. I'm like you work for a church that needs an HR director. How many people do you have working there typically?
Speaker 1:It's a big church.
Speaker 2:It is a big church. They have 100. Wow, but they have a school that's attached to it, which?
Speaker 2:is why they have 100. And so he's telling me you know the type of person. And now the kids are in school, adjuncting. I was doing some consulting and I'm like, well, what if I applied? Because I've always been a faith person and working at Correct Raft they're a faith-based company as well. And, yeah, I applied, interviewed, got the job, and it's probably been. It doesn't pay as much as some of my other job, but it's the best job I've ever had. One of the best jobs. Craftcraft was really good too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it sounds like you just had a series of good experiences. Yeah, probably a few bumps along the way, but a series of good experiences A few bumps along.
Speaker 2:yeah, there was one I worked at for a year and I was like, oh, this is not for me. They were actually paying me a lot of money, but I was like not for me.
Speaker 1:Have you discovered that money's great, but your sanity's a little bit more important? Sanity and time, yeah.
Speaker 2:My time, when the kids were growing up. I have a lot of regrets about oh, I had to work, so I missed that field trip or whatever. Now I tell people that I teach and that have worked for me never miss a field trip. Don't be afraid to come to me and ask for the day off because you've got to go do something with your kids.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so I think they appreciate that.
Speaker 1:Well, your experience is going to help them have an even better experience. Yeah, yeah, I can understand that. Yeah, I think something changes in us. Well, again it's. We had to do this because they had to put food on the table, and now I can kind of choose what I want to do.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:And so do you feel like you're positively impacting, like that, next generation of folks that are going to be working?
Speaker 2:I totally feel that way. There's actually the lady that's working for me now. She is going to nursing school at night Now she's a single mom so I already feel for her and, yeah, she's doing her homework all day. She's a receptionist, so she has a lot that allows her to be able to do that, whereas some people it would probably drive them crazy. But I'm like, if she can do it it's not hurting anybody and ultimately in the end she's bettering herself. That's why I'm here yeah well, and you're gonna.
Speaker 1:When you do those sorts of things, you make better employees yeah like an employee that you've taken care of. They're nine times out of ten.
Speaker 2:I remember that right right, yeah, so people remember how you made them feel yes, somebody.
Speaker 1:there's a quote about that somewhere, I think the nation's poet actually wrote something about that. Yeah, yeah. Well, you, I mean you've done a lot, uh, in in your semi-retired but not retired Um, you know you've raised a family, you're taking care of a family, you're taking care of your husband and a lot going on. I do want to ask really two more questions. The first one is is there anything that we haven't talked about that you would like to share as part of your story?
Speaker 2:Part of my story. Well, because I was in the right place at the right time, I think, and I mean Corecraft gave me so many opportunities. I mean we started doing mission trips around the world and I've been to a ton of places because of that and my master's degree got to go to China as part of that program. It was built into the curriculum Amazing. You know just the opportunities that I've had. I am so grateful for. I'm like I never thought that this would be the life that I would have. I figured I'd just go to work someplace like my dad and stay there until I retired doing menial nothing. And that's not the way it turned out.
Speaker 1:It's amazing how life does that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I want to ask you a question about your so you did mission trips. Yeah, I know this is not a fair question, but if you could just pick one of those that was your absolute favorite, tell me about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was the very first one to Mexico. Okay, because that one changed my life. They were all great and I got to go to Ethiopia and all these different countries, but that one changed my life because I had worked for this faith-based company and we have guests come in and there were, you know, bible studies and whatnot, but our president, bill Yergin. He was new to the company and he told me we're going to do mission trips and I was like, we're going to do what? And he's like, yeah, I want you to find a place where we can go and take employees out of the country. You can't be in the United States.
Speaker 2:I thought he was crazy. I'm like how are we going to do this? You do this through church. And I found a company. I didn't know how to do it, so I'm one. If I don't know how to do something, let's go find somebody who does. So I did. I found a company called Missionary Ventures they specialize in short-term mission trips and went to Mexico. So they flew me out to California. I went in through Tijuana, mexico, and met these missionaries and they're building houses in Mexico. It's a house to them, it's a shed to us, it's a house to them and I said, okay, we're going to do this. I said okay, we're going to do this. So we took 25 people in July to Mexico. It was hot.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And we were staying in a campground, we were camping at night, and so there were no facilities, I mean, and the smell was just unbelievable. And that first night Bill Yergin asked us we were praying. He said if you want to say the prayer of salvation, say the prayer. And I was sitting there prior to this, and the sun was going down and we're in Mexico and I had already thought to myself God, why did you bring me here? I am in this spot, spot in this place.
Speaker 2:That is pushing me way outside my comfort zone. I mean, my gag reflex was on overdrive most of the time that we were there because of the smells and I'm like there's got to be a reason. So there's something bigger going on here. And so I said that prayer that night. And I told him about it the next day because we were on the work site, we were taking a lunch break and I tried to get up as high as I could, away from the breeze, and I told him that I had said the prayer of salvation and so he prayed with me that night. I could not talk about it for a year after that, could not. Even now I will start to cry about it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, how does I mean, how did that feel for you? Like, was that like a weight lifted? I think it was a wake-up call. Yeah.
Speaker 2:In that now I knew what my purpose was. He had showed me what my gift was Like. I didn't believe in myself.
Speaker 1:Right yeah, which amazes me because even up to that point in your life, if you just look back on all the things that you had accomplished, right, you just look back on all the things that you had accomplished. Right, and I think too, that many times we look back and talk about what we have accomplished, but really there's a lot of things going on behind the scenes that helped you accomplish those things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, People, spiritual, all of those things, yeah, all those things. And I look back at it now and I'm like it was divine intervention all along the way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can't imagine working for a company that says we're going to do a mission outside the country. That's just we build boats, but we're going to do this. That's why they're successful.
Speaker 2:That's why they're successful. Yeah, and so I feel like he had showed me my gift was yeah, I can go and I can hammer a nail in, but my real gift is in being able to organize, and because there's a lot that goes into it the transportation, the, food the safety. All of that goes into taking all these people from outside, you know, outside the United States and getting them all back safely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, getting them all back safely. Yeah, do you think that when you look back on the leadership positions that you were forced to take, you feel like those are little knocks on the door? Yeah, they were, yeah.
Speaker 2:They were. They were like Shirley, wake up, we know you're in there Because I could have easily. You know my dad, he was offered positions but in leadership and he never would take them and you know, he just sort of went along. He was the worker bee and um, yeah, but part of it is too is saying yes when the opportunity comes along.
Speaker 1:Right, right, what's? What's the old joke about the guy, the guy in the flood? I don't know if you've heard this, stop me. There's a guy, there's a flood that hits this guy's town and, uh, you know, as the waters are rising, a a boat comes by and and offers him help and he says, no, the lord will take care of me. And then the water gets a little higher and another boat comes by and he said, oh, the lord's going to take care of me. And then the water gets a little higher, a helicopter comes by and he says, nope, the Lord's going to take care of me. And the guy drowns. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And he gets to heaven and he says what's the deal? You said you'd take care of me. And the Lord says I sent you two boats and a helicopter. What more did you want?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have heard that story and I think about it all the time and I'm like, yeah, he sent me stuff all along the way, so working for a church now that is the amazing part.
Speaker 1:Yeah, does it feel kind of full circle for you Full?
Speaker 2:circle? Yeah, in fact they had asked me because I started out as a department of one in HR and I'm ending as a department of one in HR. In between there's been a lot big teams and stuff like that. Lots of people, a thousand people, and now I'm back to 100, department of One and the head pastor, david Swanson, had asked me well, how do you feel about that? I'm like this is my full circle moment and I love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I don't want to think too far in the future, but what do you think is next for you?
Speaker 2:Gosh, I don't want to think too far in the future, but what do you think is next for you, gosh? I don't know. I think so. My son is very entrepreneurial. My son-in-law is entrepreneurial. I help them both with their businesses and I think that there will be something a joint venture in the future that I will support them on. I'm not the out in the front and I'm great behind the scenes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I look forward to seeing that next chapter too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1:Well, I've asked a lot of questions today and you've had an amazing life, thank you. I'm a firm believer in that. Everything we do brings us to the point where we're at right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so really just one last question, as we kind of wrap this up, and that is when someone's watching this 100 years from now and you and I aren't here anymore. What message do you want to leave for people?
Speaker 2:I think the message would be don't be afraid. I think the message would be don't be afraid. You've got to say yes when somebody asks you. Don't operate out of fear. If you don't know something, learn it. Be a lifelong learner. I never thought I would go to college and here I am. I'm teaching college, and it didn't happen until later. So it's never too late, and put yourself outside your comfort zone.
Speaker 1:You'll be so richly rewarded.
Speaker 2:That's what I want them to know.
Speaker 1:All right, well, thank you for sharing that. Thanks for taking time out on a Tuesday to talk with me.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it. Thank you for coming here. I didn't fly here, you did.
Speaker 1:That's true.
