Donnalee Hartman:
CLASS OF 1965
El Segundo High SchoolClass of 1965
El segundo, CA
Donnalee's Story
Life
I have been involved in Law Enforcement most of my life since High School (at El Segundo High). I started out with the Hermosa Beach PD as a Police Cadet. The first female allowed into a cadet corp in Police work at that time. I was quickly followed by several others including the Chief's daughter. I stayed with HBPD until I turned 21 (the magic #) and had to find other employment. HBPD was too small a department to be able to just hire on all the cadets they put through their program.
I was hired at Manhattan Beach Police Department as a dispatcher/matron. During my stay there I was the jailer, matron, dispatcher, records clerk, Records Supervisor and in charge of their cadet program. I had some health issues and left for a short time to do nothing.
I itched to get back to work and hired on with Sears, Roebuck & Co in Buena Park. I worked in the catalog teletype room, sending the catalog orders over a teletype machine to the warehouse for processing. The old teletype machines were not forgiving and you had to be accurate in your typing. (If I make mistakes now it's my fault not the computer).
During this time I was married and had a little boy, Dana Mitchell Wise. He was about 5 months old when I walked into the Disneyland employment office and filled out the application. Six and half years later I left Disneyland's employ, divorced and raising a daughter. My son stayed with my ex-husband. While in the park, I worked as a secretary in the Fantasyland area doing scheduling, typing etc. Then after my daughter was born, Ameylia Michelle Wise, I was transferred to the warehouse and worked for Disneyland-Vista Records and Buena Vista International (the film industry). I shipped phonograph records (I know that's an antique term) and tape cassettes all over the world. I also shipped all the "flats", movie posters for the theaters all over. This part lasted until the company decided it was more expedient to move these two entities to the center of the US and ship to the two coasts from there. I didn't want to move to Illi...Expand for more
nois, so I transferred to Accounting Control, where I signed the payroll checks and distributed the pay each day. The main payroll was issued on Wednesday but there were always other checks coming off the printer daily.
I missed Law Enforcment (and the money) so went to Redondo Beach PD in 1982. I was there as a dispatcher until 1989 when I moved to Merced, CA and joined the Merced Police Department.
I started my 17th year at MPD this month (August). I was a Community Service Officer/Dispatcher when I began. I'm now a part of the Property/Evidence division. I'm still working in the warehouse, haha. I'm a Certified Property/Evidence Specialist and a member of the Crime Scene Response Team (CSRT) as a Lead. We process all major crime scenes. I was one of the original group when it was formed and trained by the FBI. I've testified in court as a professional crime scene photographer and evidence collection technician. If you ever watch CSI, I do almost everything they do except the lab work (and carry a gun). The guys say it's too scary to think of me with a gun.
I'm married again (5 years ago) to Gary Hartman, who had no idea what he was getting himself into marrying me. My daughter, Mollie is married, has 3 children (Aly 11 1/2 lives with her dad, Christopher 9 1/2 lives with his grandmother) and Colten who lives with Mollie and her husband Andy in Chowchilla. Mitch, my son, lives with his girlfriend Kim and her son Zack in Roseville.
I'm still enjoying my job too much to retire so will just keep at it. My mom, Merylin McDown lives in Santa Maria and we travel to visit her alot through the year.
I also sing with the local Sweet Adeline chorus, Harmony Valley here in Merced and a quartet called "Co-Incidence". I'm very active with them and the Merced Police Officers Association as an executive board member. Don't have time for too much else.
Workplace
I worked in the teletype room for Catalog sales. I worked the front counter taking orders and over the phone (before they had the 1-800 number) and before computers!
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