I have never really said too much about my time at the Mary Davis Home on this blog. How do you encapsulate 27 years working with all manner of people - staff and client in a couple of paragraphs. You don't. Here are some pictures of the old place and the new one we built along the way. I started on Halloween night, 1977.
Your blogger as a young Counselor, and yes, that's probably a cigarette. We even handed them out to the kids for awhile. Boy, that certainly dates me. This was taken in the rec area and dining area. The Girls wing is behind me along with the ping-pong table. I suspect we had just had a staffing to discuss the behavior and level of the kids, and were dinking around. When I started we even had a pool table but was removed when we discovered the balls were lethal weapons.
My boss, Randy and his boss, Jim. Randy is now in Rio and just started getting Social Security checks. He and wife Julie operated the Blue Rose for a few years after we all took the Early. Jim is now retired as well after working in Springfield for a few years. Another shot of the rec area/ There's the pool table and the TV set is against the wall clear in the back. The tables were where we ate. And yes, we didn't have a cook when I started and the counseling staff was required to do the cooking. I had a few masterpieces and a few disasters. I took a tray back to lock-up once and when I slid the tray through the small fold-down door, the kid asked "Who the Hell cooked this shit." It was me, and that kind of response usually required consequences. Not this time, however, as I was the cook who fixed that shit.
Me posing with Pat Johnson in the conference room before we renovated. Pat still makes a difference in this world by heading out to disasters for the Red Cross. When she isn't out chasing tornadoes, floods, hurricanes and other acts of God, she works for Red Cross finding places to stay for fire victims. And when she's not doing all that she works at Bridgeway and when she's not doing that she is babysitting her great-great granddaughter, Addison Mae. Oh Pat can I stay with you in April?
Marilyn Tapper, a damn good Counselor who was there when I started along with Jim Glasnovich and John Pogue. I learned a lot of my skills from them and then Jeff Sutor came along and I learned even more from him. Many other staff members came and went in my time, some who were naturals and some who weren't. Rose, Tanny, Cathy, Some incited, others calmed. Others rushed, some took their time. Me? Well, I was awful good at times. I once calculated the number of kids I came in contact with and thus, had some effect. It came to around 23,000-27,000 kids. Some were repeats, some were only in for a day, but many others were there for extensive counseling and I hope some remember what I told them and have had good lives.
Randy hired me as a Counselor, Supervisor and Program Coordinator. This is me in overthrow mode in my office. We had a lot of fun in the front office. We had a lot of laughs and still got the work done. We were a damn good administrative team and hopefully affected for the better many thousands of kids who were entrusted in our care. Here's to Pat, Randy, Becky, Julie and Kris for making the years fly.
Flo, our cook. I had more laughs with her around than anyone else. We all drove beat-up old wrecks, but she drove a Lincoln. Every noon after she was done she'd go to the break room and I would too, if I had the time. She would hold court and spin the greatest stories and had us all rolling on the floor with laughter. She passed away a few years ago.
I have no idea who this is, but if it happened now would be a fireable offense. However, when this was taken it was sanctioned by the front office that because there were only two people on the late shift and we were working all shifts, then as long as one person was awake, then it would be OK for the other to nap. As soon as more people came on board on the night shift and we began working steadier shifts, then we were to stay fully awake.
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