My grandmother worked a variety of secretarial jobs at Saint Bonaventure University near my hometown in western New York. A friend told her to take civil service exams for jobs with the campus post office. She did and ended up working as a postal clerk for many years. During that time, she trained a succession of postmasters who were all, by university tradition, Franciscan friars. My mother, a women’s libber, eventually encouraged my grandmother to protest this. She did and was appointed the first woman, first lay-person postmaster at the university. I guess it caused quite a scandal at the time. The family always joked that the appointment letter was signed by President Richard Nixon (we weren’t big fans). In my own work life, I try to balance my grandmother’s work ethic with my mother’s rebelliousness. They are both my heroes.
