What led you to join the Navy?
Paula: I had been working part-time as an office assistant for a professor at the University of Florida while I was attending school there. He told me he was the executive officer of an air intelligence unit in Jacksonville. His unit was looking for a secretary one weekend a month. I learned there were 56 male officers and no women in the unit (great odds); that it would be necessary to obtain a security clearance to work with this unit (o.k. by me); and that I would have to join the WAVES to get that clearance (definitely not o.k. by me). I was also assured that I could get a ride to and from my parents’ home in Jacksonville whenever I had duty. I promised to think it over. I became a WAVE. Ask me the story of my male enlistment physical if you have not already heard it.
My thoughts about being a woman in the armed forces during the 1960s.
When I was offered the opportunity to become a member of the Naval Air Intelligence Reserve Unit in Jacksonville, I was hesitant until I decided to take heed of one of my favorite maxims: You regret more the things in life you do not do than the things you do. My years in the Naval Reserves is one of the highlights of my life. To this day, I don’t think anyone stands straighter or prouder than I do when I hear “Anchors Aweigh," ”National Emblem," or “Colonel Bogey March." I loved working with my unit. I was a naïve Southern gal, and the men in my unit were very respectful of me and helpful in every way they could. It felt so good to know that I was doing something that could help the Navy and my country. I felt I was heeding President John Kennedy’s words: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” I loved being a part of this cadre of buddies. I became friends with many of these officers and used some of their homes as my overnight base when I was travelling through Florida. I became close to some of their wives and was invited to their cookouts and bar-b-ques.
Chet: As I later discovered, many of my classmates at OCS were motivated to join the military by a speech given by the president at that time, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who said “Ask not what your country can do for you - Ask what you can do for your country.” I signed up after graduation from Penn State and was told it would probably be 12 months before I was called to duty, so I extended my summer employment with the State of New Jersey, Bureau of Traffic Safety. I soon discovered that the Navy could change its mind very quickly and a week later I was packing my bag for OCS. That was the beginning of a total of 23 exciting and interesting years in naval service, four years active duty and 19 years in the Naval Air Reserve.
What did you do after the Navy?
Paula: I worked for a mortgage company, training processors how to take and process mortgages. I also wrote a manual covering this. Before that, I oversaw the South Florida division of Ford Motor Company. My favorite part of this hectic position was the social part: arranging a gala for the introduction of the Ford Mustang, publicity for new model introductions and arranging anything Dearborn, Michigan VIPs wanted or needed when they were in Florida. I now volunteer, belong to a book group, play mah-jongg, and have fun with the women and couples of Sincuidados.
Chet: My current line of “work” is mentoring small businesses. After my active duty time in the Navy, I was recruited by Wallace & Tiernan, Inc, in Jacksonville and promptly shipped off to Atlanta as a fledgling sales engineer. Many twists and turns later and with the support of five venture capital firms, we acquired Wallace & Tiernan in a leveraged buyout and I became chairman, president, and CEO. Wallace & Tiernan was a leading multinational manufacturer of water treatment and purification equipment that ultimately was acquired by a British firm, North West Water, PLC. I spent three years with the British firm following the acquisition as president of North West Water, Inc and Managing Director of NWW Process Engineering, LTD, After three years of commuting every other week from my office in Princeton, NJ to my office in Manchester, England, averaging 250,000 air miles a year, I decided to retire. I managed almost a year at the beach when I subsequently joined forces with an investor in Ohio. Paula and moved to Canton, OH and I started another water treatment equipment company. Three years later, I took that company public on the New York Stock Exchange. Running a public company was not nearly as much fun as I thought it would be and I retired for the third time after five years at Waterlink. The companies I have been involved with dealt with manufacturing equipment for purifying and treating water and wastewater, so I have always felt the activity was worthwhile and served the public good in addition to providing economic benefit to shareholders and other stakeholders. After my final retirement from corporate world, I spent 10 years as a volunteer with the SCORE organization where I ultimately ended up as southwest regional VP with responsibility for 2000 volunteer members. Following SCORE. I became a founding board member of the Arizona Business Council, which supports and promotes the growth of Arizona businesses and I continue to be active in that organization. Paula and I moved to Arizona in 2000 and love living here in Sincuidados.
