“I love sports. Any sport. Except golf. I don’t consider that even a sport.”
I started my career right out of high school. Just a farm girl from a little town called Fruitland. After graduation I moved to Spokane and completed a six-month secretarial training program. I was recruited out of secretarial school by the FBI and moved to Seattle to be a stenographer. As soon as my one-year contract was up—to the day—I was out of there.
Several of my FBI co-workers and I decided it would be great fun to visit Mexico for an extended vacation—three months!—in my friend’s brand-new Chevy Malibu. I was eighteen, so I needed my parents to sign the paperwork allowing me to travel to a foreign country. I didn’t understand why they were so concerned. No hotel, no reservations, several young girls traveling in a car…but we did it and got back to the USA in one piece!
Upon my return from Mexico I went to work at the University of Washington’s Child Development Center. One of my biggest regrets at this point in my career was not pursuing a college degree. I lost out on some great job opportunities during my three years working at the university.
I was around twenty-one when I decided to move to California. I put everything I owned in my new Mustang and headed south. I lived in Anaheim, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, and Mission Viejo. An attorney took a chance and hired me as his secretary, eventually promoting me to his legal assistant. Life was good. Then one day I walked into a little bar in Santa Ana called the Saddleback Inn and met a guy named Jim Schrack. We always laughed about how we met in a bar; how we had a couple dances and some drinks and decided we were destined to be together forever. But it worked. We were married forty-nine years.
Eventually, we decided to move to Pennsylvania to be closer to Jim’s son—and for Jim to entertain his dream of owning his own company. We settled in a little town called Bath at the base of the Pocono Mountains. That’s where our two daughters, Jamie and Suzanne, were born. Over the years we’d come back to visit my family in Washington. We loved the small-town atmosphere so much that after Jim’s parents passed away in 1992, we decided to move to Fruitland to raise our children (talk about coming full circle).
I needed a job, so I contacted an employment agency. Not too long after applying, along came Bouten. I loved this company from the get-go. Both Frank and Bill had such a great work ethic and integrity, unlike anything I’d seen in my career. They were kind, generous, and caring—not only to their employees, but also to their community. And that hasn’t changed, even with new leadership.
There are some things that have changed, though. A lot. To think of having a female vice president fifty years ago would have been incomprehensible. Or a woman working in the field—are you kidding me? Every year back then, one of the “lucky” project managers would be assigned the task of being in charge of the female staff members. It’s true. Then one day someone came up with a bright idea: “Let’s make Nancy office manager and she’ll oversee the women.” I’m glad those days are over!
It’s been quite a ride. I’m honored to have been with Bouten all these years. Think about it: How many companies put such an emphasis on the well-being of their employees and have such compassion for their community? Not many—but Bouten does. Maybe that’s why I’m proud to tell anyone that asks: I work for Bouten Construction.
