Danna Shirley
I had
taken most of the required courses in high school to work in the secretarial field; typing, shorthand, business English, and business machines. I was very
good at typing and semi-good at shorthand. Toward the end of my senior year (1966), my
teacher had obtained employment applications for government positions and part
of the class assignment was to complete the form and mail it to some of the
local agencies on her list. Two that stood out to me were the Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC) in Berkeley and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in San
Francisco as either a typing or steno clerk, with the steno clerk receiving a
higher salary. As an 18-year-old, I hadn't thought my future through to any
great conclusion, although going to junior college in the fall was somewhat
expected.
I was
called for an interview by the FBI first. Even though I had been born and
raised in the Bay Area, I didn't venture into San Francisco much and never by
myself. I asked my best friend, Cathy, to go with me to help find the address. I
was as scared of traveling in San Francisco as I was of the interview. I
thought it went well but didn't want the job anyway just because of the
commute.
Next I
was called by the AEC, which was just a block from the University of
California, Berkeley campus. At least this job would keep me on the east bank
and I would not have to cross the Bay Bridge every day. Cathy also accompanied
me to this job interview and waited in the lobby.
I
remember being impressed with the security throughout the building beginning
with the visitor’s pass that I had to wear and being escorted to my first
interview; and the next, and the next, and the next. I was interviewed four
times that day. Cathy being Cathy (she never met a stranger), grilled the
security guard in the lobby and learned that the longer I moved through the
interview process, the better it was for me. In other words, I must have made
an impression on someone!
I finally received the phone call asking
me if I would like to work as a steno clerk in Personnel with the AEC. It would
require a background investigation because I would need a Top Secret clearance
to work in the building. I had lived in the same house since I was five, so it
didn't take long to interview the neighbors and conduct a background check. I was
clean as a whistle!
I began my first job in July, 1966. It was
just a few miles from my father’s employment with Dymo Industries in Emeryville
so he graciously took me to work every morning and picked me up every
afternoon. This was no small task considering the congestion on University
Avenue during commute time. In fact, my father found my first car, a 1957
two-door, hardtop, Bel Air Chevrolet which cost $600, $400 of which he loaned to me. I wonder if there was an ulterior
motive in that deal? J Anyway, with a few paychecks under my belt and a new car under my seat,
junior college went right out the window.
I only stayed in Personnel for a few
months before a position in Security opened. I again went through the interview
process by the Security Director, Assistant Director, and Visitation Director;
I was to be a Visitor Clerk and the best part was it didn't require shorthand. In
those days we were using teletype communication and carbon paper for typing.
Every person employed by the AEC and its
contractors had a Secret or Top Secret clearance. My job was to clear all
attendees to any seminars, conferences, or symposiums letting the host agency know
our people who would be attending and their security clearance.
It was quite ironic to me that this young 18,
19, 20-year-old high school graduate had such control over these learned men because
they could not get in the door without my say-so! Usually, the ones that were
full of themselves didn't bother to go through the Visitor clearance process
that would allow them entry. They just couldn't be bothered. They were kept
cooling their heels at the front door, however, until I could be notified by phone to give the okay. All others who knew the process would submit
their travel and security clearance requests in a timely manner and their names
would be on the list when they arrived. Of course, there was always the one who
would not know until the last minute that he would be attending a certain
conference and then everything had to be speedily processed. I had my security contacts
at almost every facility in the nation: Lawrence Radiation Lab (LRL), Jet
Propulsion Lab (JPL), Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), Washington, D.C. etc,
etc.
I remained with the AEC, now called the
Department of Energy, until I was twenty-one. I made some very good friends
there, one of which, Valerie Sullivan, went from being a Security secretary to becoming
a Security agent—gun, badge, handcuffs, and all!
When Ron and I had been married a year, he
received orders to Bermuda (1970) that required me to resign. Although I had to
leave my first job and my parents for the first time in my life, I never had
regrets and I've never looked back.
“…one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind and reaching forward to
those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)
