Living in the Past: Congratulations to me

In mid-March 1979, with no car and only $1,000 in my pockets, I left my home and family in Atlanta and moved to northern Virginia. Within the first week, I had an interview with a company in Tysons Corner located just off Westpark Drive. My friend (the person who convinced me to move) dropped me off with the plan that I call her when the interview was over. While waiting for her to pick me up, I looked around at all the buildings in front of me. Surely someone needed a secretary. So, I walked into the closest one, a company named The MITRE Corporation, and left an application. I had no clue what MITRE was or did, nor did I care—I just needed a job. They called me in to interview for three positions and I talked to multiple people over several hours. The next day, their Human Resources department called and offered me the job of my choice. My head was spinning. The jobs were all similar and I couldn’t remember one person from the other. How do you decide? The only thing I did remember was that one of them had a Mazda RX-7. So, I made my choice in a very unscientific way—I picked the one with the cool car. My first day was April 2, 1979.

40th anniversary (2019)

Before leaving Atlanta, I worked at Oak Hill Homes, which at the time was a home for children in the custody of Fulton County. The staff worked out of a small house located near the entrance. My office was the living room. The superintendent and two case workers each worked out of one of the three bedrooms. Three large “cottages” housed 36 teenagers, 12 in each. They attended the local public schools and some of them had part time jobs after school. Oak Hill was their home, so they were required to help keep it clean, both the grounds and cottages. The children hung out in the office before and after school. I shopped for their personal supplies, helped find donations to buy Christmas trees and gifts for them, and watched them grow. I loved the job and hated to leave it.

It didn’t take long for me to realize there was no comparing the two jobs, but the work at MITRE was interesting and I learned a lot. MITRE had better, newer equipment than Oak Hill—like the typewriters with the ball element vs. the long-stemmed keys. And they had a copy machine so no more carbon copies. MITRE’s client was the federal government, and our deliverables were typed technical documents. The documents were handwritten by the technical staff then turned over to the secretaries for typing. I quickly became a power typist and still remember the scent of Bengay wafting down the halls that first year. Weeks of pounding the keyboard to finish a deliverable can be hard on the body! When the technical staff revised the document, you cut and paste each individual page using rubber cement, liquid Wite-Out, correction tape, and rub on letter transfers to avoid having to retype text that had not changed. I remember being horrified the first time I had to cut up a typed page, but I got pretty good at it. By the time the document was final, a single page often ended up being several layers thick. Thanks to the copy center, we always had a nice clean document to give to the government.

Several years later, we switched from typewriters to Wang computers. Only the secretaries were issued computers, so the technical staff continued to handwrite their deliverables and submit for typing. During the 1980s, I vividly remember working on design specifications for our client that when all was said and done, ended up being over 10,000 typed pages. At one point, my in-box stood 2 ½ to 3 feet tall, no lie. Many of those pages were Program Design Language (PDL), a tool used for software design, and I typed hundreds, if not thousands, pages of it. PDL went something like this (and software developers, don’t judge please, I’m winging it here):

IF blah blah blah, then do blah blah blah
THEN do blah blah blah
ELSE IF blah blah blah
END IF
END IF

That might go on for pages and pages. I had no clue what it all meant but knew you had to “end all the ifs.” I remember waking up in the middle of the night, talking myself through the “end ifs” on a few occasions.

Over the years, I held multiple secretarial positions—from group leader, associate department head, department head, associate technical director, director, and finally executive assistant. I found the department head secretary position the hardest of all. The buck stopped with me. I was responsible for the workloads of several secretaries, but I was not their supervisor. If they needed help, they came to me. If no one else had the bandwidth, it fell on me. Deliverables and proposal deadlines had to be met. I was tasked with proofreading every report and proposal we delivered, coordinating staff interviews, reviewing resumes, and typing memos, letters, and reviews. The list went on and on. I worked a lot of overtime during those years, all while raising my two sons.

In 1996, my division split from MITRE and we became Mitretek Systems. The split was a little scary. Would we survive? Only time would tell. In 2007, we rebranded to become Noblis, “a dynamic science, technology and strategy organization dedicated to creating forward-thinking technical and advisory solutions in the public interest.” Today, Noblis is growing and thriving.

Throughout this time, my role changed from secretary to include project manager of several corporate initiatives. One was a speaker series that began in 2001 offering employees a chance to expand their knowledge and explore cutting-edge science and technology, management, and global trend topics. The first 10 years or so, employees presented their research projects or topics they were experts in. Occasionally we brought experts in from the outside world. Eventually the series changed to mostly book authors. I remember the first author was Dr. Michio Kaku. It was cool meeting him. Many of the speakers were technical and over my head. Two of my favorites were non-technical—Steven Johnson, author of How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World and Liza Mundy, author of The Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II. The six-part series How We Got to Now aired on PBS right before we hosted Mr. Johnson so it was exciting to meet him in person.

During the Covid pandemic, the speaker series went virtual. We purchased a limited number of books for each speaker and employees reserved a copy. After several speakers, I went to the office to prepare them for shipment. The photo below shows what my office looked like when I arrived the first time after we shut down.

I managed four corporate award programs, one of which recognized just under 300 employees this past September. Three of the programs involved committees. All are yearly and required months of coordination and preparation. The photo below was taken before the guests arrived for one of our pre-Covid September events.

Noblis’ research program is a huge part of the Technology Office. Since it began, I worked with the chief technology officer to manage all administrative aspects of the program which usually carries 35 to 40 research projects during a fiscal year.

For many years, the Technology Office published three technical journals:

The Telecommunications Review featured technical and telecommunications activities of the Telecommunications Specialty Group and was first published in the Fall of 1990. I became project manager in 1995, overseeing its publication and distribution until the last issue was published in 2008.
Sigma was created to present, summarize, and explore technologies of interest and relevance to our clients and staff. First published in the Spring of 2001, it was internal only for the first five years. In May 2006, we hired a technical editor who took the publication to the “peer review” level. It was a rigorous process, and I learned a lot from her. I was the project manager until the journal ended in 2014.
Horizons was created to share the many aspects of healthcare management and information technology transforming our healthcare delivery systems. First published in September 2003, I became project manager in 2005 and oversaw the publication of three issues.

I proofread each journal three to four times during the publication process which forced me to give up pleasure reading. I was a lifelong novel reader, but it was just too much. I couldn’t bring myself to pick up a book before bed or on the weekend anymore. I’m now looking forward to getting back into pleasure reading.

Around 12 years ago, my boss suggested I take the courses required to become project management professional (PMP) certified. That scared me to death, so I spoke with the individual who managed training. She suggested I take some of the internal online project management courses instead. I did and was well into the second course when I had a lightbulb moment and realized I was a project manager and had been for a while. I had never thought of myself in that way, and it felt good.

But since you’d all have to sign a non-disclosure agreement for me to tell you more about my work life, I’ll share some of my rocking chair memories instead. During my tenure, on two separate occasions I watched space shuttles fly over our building. Both were on their final voyage, riding piggyback on a Boeing 747.

Vice President Al Gore came to the office once to speak in our auditorium. My office mate and I watched his motorcade arrive and saw him enter the building from our window. Years later, I was part of a team that won the Hammer Award Vice President Gore established. When Noblis moved to our current location, the offices were neighborhood style vs. individual offices and there would be no space for things like that. So, when I packed my office, I tossed all my tchotchkes and awards, with one exception—the plaque from the Hammer Award. I thought my boys may be impressed so brought it home to show them. I mean, it was signed by a Vice President! They could have cared less, LOL.

The next picture is me standing in our Falls Church office on National Wear Red Day. You can see a portion of the tchotchkes I tossed when packing for the big office move.

I stood beside a former FBI assistant director as we watched the 2nd plane hit the twin towers on 9/11. When I heard him say “we’re under attack” I knew it was real. That day we watched smoke billowing from the Pentagon in the distance. Noblis honors those lost every September 11.

A robot was brought in one day to deal with a suspicious package that had been delivered to the building.

My boss, co-worker, and I watched President Obama’s motorcade traveling on the Capital Beltway on his way to and from a local college to make a speech.

Noblis was a corporate sponsor for Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in northern Virginia and the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC for a few years so I got to see Yanni three times, the National Symphony Orchestra, Phillip Phillips, Matt Nathanson, A Great Big World, and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

The year I (and others in the company) celebrated my 25th anniversary, we enjoyed dinner at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, followed by a performance of Jersey Boys at the National Theatre.

I took my children to the annual children’s holiday party and years later took my niece and great-nieces.

My co-worker shared her Dickens Christmas village with us for several years. We had lots of visitors from Thanksgiving to the new year.

That same co-worker and I were the last two to leave the office after packing for the move to Reston. I took this photo on the way out the door.

We waved at Bao Bao, the giant panda from National Zoo, traveling in a FedEx truck on its way to Dulles Airport for its trip to China.

We even had Turkey Vultures dancing with their reflection on the 8th floor ledge of our Falls Church building.

We celebrated the company’s 10-year anniversary with a surf and turf dinner under a tent in our parking lot. We celebrated 20 years at a lovely event at a local hotel.

We gathered to Rock the Red when the Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup.

We watched the seasons change. I remember thanking our president once for selecting such a beautiful office park for us. We spent a lot of time there, so why not enjoy our surroundings.

Many years ago, a coworker’s wife sent homemade treats in for the entire department every month. That’s where I discovered the pickle pinwheels which are now part of our holiday food traditions.

When a co-worker celebrated her 50th birthday, I printed a message using a single 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper for each letter and taped it to the windows that overlooked the parking lot. Everyone walking in knew it was her birthday. She got me back though. When I turned 40, she taped messages all over the walls inside the building, including the bathroom stalls!

Co-workers were good to me over the years and I still think about them every year when I decorate at Christmas and set my holiday table. They showered me on three occasions, once for my marriage and twice for babies. The photo below was taken during the first baby shower. The women pictured hand quilted the beautiful baby quilt for me. Each one stitched and signed one square.

Anita, Evelyn, Peggy, and Ruth

Of the 150 who attended my wedding, my guests were eight family members, the friend who convinced me to move to Virginia, my roommate/maid of honor, my friend/co-worker/bartender Jan, and this table of co-workers (with the three women in pink). All the others were my husband’s family and friends. That was alright though. The wedding was for him, not me. I didn’t want one.

Jan

All the memories aren’t happy though. Sadly, I had to attend the funeral of four close co-workers over the years. The first one, Roe, a fellow secretary lost her son to suicide. She died from a broken heart a short time later. Another fellow secretary, Pam, died from blood clots to her lungs just a couple of weeks after getting married. A company leader, Rich, lost his battle to cancer. And the hardest of all, my friend and boss of 26 years, Gil Miller, died suddenly in his sleep. The photo below is Gil and I, taken during one of the award events.

I dedicated most of my working career to Noblis. Throughout all of this, I got married, raised two children, lost my parents and in-laws, and remodeled my house. My office moved to at least seven different buildings, we had an Earthquake that rattled the 8th floor, and like many, went remote during the Covid pandemic. I worked with people from all over the company—the executive office, mission areas, marketing and communications, business development, finance, procurement, legal, and facilities. My supervisors and the people I worked with were wonderful. They allowed me to do my job, without feeling watched. They gave me an assignment and trusted me to execute. When Gil was my supervisor, I knew that before a big event or his signing off on something, he would look me in the eye and ask if it was okay. I knew I had to be able to say yes and mean it. That stuck with me all these years.

At my request, there was no retirement party. I couldn’t bear the thought of that and appreciate the fact my request was honored. Instead, today I was walked to my car by two of my closest co-workers. We stopped in the lobby so they could present the official Noblis gift and I had a mini meltdown that continued a good part of the trip home. About 20 minutes into the trip, I realized the song “See You Again” was playing … in particular, the chorus sung by Charlie Puth:

It’s been a long day without you, my friend
And I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again
We’ve come a long way from where we began
Oh, I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again
When I see you again

I told you earlier about my boss and friend Gil who died suddenly in November 2015. Well, two years later, I had the following experience which I posted about on Facebook on November 8, 2017:

In October 2015 as I was leaving for a 10-day vacation, I said goodbye to a friend who himself had planned travel after I returned. His last words to me were “I won’t see you for a while.” Sadly, he was right. He passed away in his sleep two years ago today. As I drove to work this morning, I prayed for him and his family, ending with “I hope he knows I’m thinking about him.” Got to work, turned on Pandora, and in the silence of a quiet office at 6:30 heard the first words of the song “See You Again” ... “It’s been a long day without you, my friend ... And I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again.” Made me smile because I knew it was a sign, he heard my prayer.

I haven’t heard that song since that day in 2017. A calm came over me as I listened to the words—I knew my friend had sent another sign. He was there with me, guiding me home to start this next phase of my life.

When I walked through those doors in 1979, I never expected to spend the next 43+ years of my life working there. I’m a firm believer in things happening for a reason and believe that everything I did in life led to my moving to Virginia which in turn led to today. In this case, it was “for the best of reasons.” And I got to leave on my own terms. I’m grateful for that.