Berdina Hart (Hutton)

Immediately after graduation I started working for the Palo Alto Times in the Add Service Department. I also attended several classes at a local Jr. College but never managed to finish and get my college degree.

Approximately 1 and ½ years later I met my daughters father and of course got pregnant right away. I left her father when I was 3 months pregnant with her at which point I went to live with my mom and continued working at the Palo Alto Times until she was born on September 17, 1964. I met my current husband about six weeks after I delivered my daughter. We started dating and were married on November 25, 1966 and Nora had just turned 2 years old. I worked in retail for a few years. I had my son on April 27, 1970 and took two years off to be with him as a child.

We had purchased our first home in Menlo Park and I spent a lot of time painting and redecorating the home. I went to work for a small company named Compucar they sold extended mechanical insurance to dealerships who in turn sold it to their customers. I was a secretary for that company til finally they promoted me to Sales Manager for the state of CA. I was responsible for 6 salesman and opened their office in Hayward. Eventually they decided to pull the business out of CA....too much competition so they kept me to service the dealers in Northern CA and represent them in small claims court. It was not enough to keep me challenged so I took on additional part-time jobs, one at EF Hutton in the wire room and then a separate one with the Los Altos Fire Department as secretary for the fire chiefs. I enjoyed all the jobs but wanted to get into a large company so I would have better benefits and build up a retirement. I applied at Hewlett-Packard and was hired at their OED branch on Page Mill in August of 1981. Within 3 to 4 years I had promoted into the highest level secretary position. At that point I moved into a management position at the HP Customer Service department in Mountain View CA. I spent the rest of my years at HP managing 35 direct reports and covering a span of hours over swing, grave and all weekend hours. A very demanding and stressful opportunity that I loved.

I retired in November of 1999. My husband had already retired 3 years prior to me as a Menlo Park Police Officer after 29 years of service on that police force. We both wanted to move out of the Bay Area and get into a less stressful environment which we found here in Placerville and we love it here. The first year after retirement for me I took every kind of FUN class you could think of, sewing, stain glass, silk flower arrangements of all kinds, stenciling...and the list goes on. At the same time I worked part- time at a cute shop in town Cottage Works. My husband and I both joined a local gym and worked out faithfully at least 3 to 4 times a week.

In December of 2000 I was told I had a 50% chance of having ovarian cancer. So after a complete hysterectomy on January 11, 2001 and being told I was extremely fortunate and one of 2% of US women who catch ovarian cancer in stage one that they had removed all the cancer and that I would need to go through 3 sessions of chemo for added insurance to lower my recurrence rate to 10%. Of course I lost all my hair but I was very fortunate and had very few other side affects from the chemo. I have successfully been cancer free since my last chemo treatment in May of 2001. I faithfully have my blood test and a complete exam every 3 months. I am very blessed. I still continue with my part-time job at Cottage works but have also taken a part-time job at my gym and I am training to be a trainer at this point. The gym and staying healthy is my highest priority and should have been all those years I dedicated myself to HP.