Tillie Jamison (Gibbons):  

I Joined the military June/1963 where I attended school for advanced medical specialist which is equivalent to a practical nurse in civilian life. I did basic training at Fort McClellan, Alabama which, back then, was the only place women in the Army went for basic training. Now-a-days they are treated just like the men; even have co-ed barracks living arrangemens, which was unheard of in my day. After basic training, I went to the Presidio of San Francisco, CA - Letterman Army Hospital. That was one of the most beautiful military installations in the world, situated practically beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. It is no longer a military post but a national park now. I was stationed there my entire hitch. I had received orders to go to Orleans, France but I had applied to attend the military school before the orders were cut, so they gave me the choice of going to France or the military school. I chose the school and today I kick myself over and over again for not chosing France because even though I pursued a career in the medical field for only a short period of time, I wound up in the commercial clerical/secretarial field in the long run. I took the commercial course at Port Richmond Hign and hoped to get a clerical job right after graduation. That did not happen as soon as I'd liked. I think I lacked confidence in myself back then and it showed. I couldn't seem to get that 9 to 5, five days a week, all holidays and week-ends off kind of job: BUT I'VE COME A LONG WAY BABY!!!!! FOR REAL!!!! After my discharge from the Army I worked at Marine Hospital in Clifton (U.S. Public Health Service Hospital) for a while; got married and moved away to Ridgewood, NJ for a short while but couldn't stay away from Staten Island and my friends and family for long so I moved back. Had two children, boys; James (Jimmy) & Michael so I dropped out of the "work world" to be a stay-at-home mom until my youngest (Michael) was in the first grade. They both attended PS 44 as I had and Jimmy went to Port Richmond Hign School as well. I divorced my first husband and attended Staten Island Community College for a short period trying for an Associate Degree in Nursing to become a registered nurse. That did not work out as well as I thought it would either. Instead of staying in the medical field as mention, I took a remedial course in basic office practice (Manpower Career Development) after which I landed a job with Metropolitan Life Ins. Company (their annex office down near the St. George Ferry on Bay Street at the time) as a clerk-typist. After about two years with them I landed a job with the Dept of the Treasury; first as a clerk-typist with the IRS then with the Office of District Counsel (this is the legal department that represents the IRS). I was a legal clerk/secretary at One Federal Plaza in Manhattan. I stayed with them for 25 years; 30 years of government service all tole counting my military service and the few years with U.S. Public Health Service Hospital. I transferred my job with District Counsel Office, Manhattan to the Richmond, VA office back in December, 1983 and retired on October 16, 2004. I just have to mentioned that my former office at One Federal Plaza in Manhattan had moved to the World Trade Center shortly after I relocated to VA, but in one of those areas below (not within) the towers) I visited Ground Zero about a year after 9/11 and I was devastated to see that. I remembered how I use to go there for lunch or shopping or taking the PATH train to NJ or window shopping at the WTC when I worked at One Federal Plaza. It ...Expand for more