It’s hard to believe, but nonetheless it’s true. I am seventy-four years old. It seems like just yesterday when I graduated from high school. I attended St. Mary of the Angels Academy in Haddonfield, New Jersey. It was an all-girls high school. I graduated in 1969. That’s right, 1969. My parents did not have the income to send me to college.

So, I had to get a full-time job. And, believe it or not, I landed a full-time job right out of high school. I was offered a position as a dental assistant to Dr. Edward G. Wozniak. His wife had attended St. Mary of the Angels Academy as well, and they felt they would definitely find a good employee from St. Mary of the Angels Academy.

So, several months after I graduated, I was offered a job at Dr. Wozniak’s dental office. And, believe it or not, I fit right in. The Wozniaks were wonderful people, and Dr. Wozniak taught me everything I needed to know to become a dental assistant. I worked there for almost four years. I liked the job very much, and I took to it right away. I learned how to assist the dentist and make phone calls to patients the day before their appointments. I also made appointments for the patients. And called them to remind them of their appointments or their children’s appointments.

I was a chairside assistant, and in addition, I developed X-rays and assisted at the chairside. I found that I enjoyed talking to the patients, and I was able to calm any patient who was afraid of the dentist and dental work, as I began to realize that my quiet demeanor and voice helped calm them. It turned out that the patients who were most fearful of dental work were me. However, some occasional women would start crying.

One day, Dr. Wozniak had a patient scheduled for an hour and a half. I’ll never forget her, she came right on time and Dr. Wozniak told me to seat her in the front room. She was an older woman, at least to me, as I was about nineteen at the time. I was the chairside assistant,t so I stood next to the patient and handed Dr. Wozniak the instruments. The patient seemed old to me, but that was because I was so young at the time. She was probably about forty.

Well, Dr. Wozniak anesthetized her so that she wouldn’t feel any pain, and then he began extracting one tooth after another. I kept looking at Dr. Wozniak. I felt like he wasn’t going to stop extracting her teeth, and he didn’t. He kept going until all her teeth were removed. That was about the time I started crying, and then I passed out. When I came to, I found myself lying on the couch in their living room. I had never been in the Wozniaks’ living area before. Mrs. Wozniak had put a cold compress on my forehead. I started crying again. I wondered how it came to be in their living room. Mrs. Wozniak said, “Susan, you passed out. Dr. Wozniak had to carry you in here and let you rest until you felt better. Guess what I did? I started to cry again. I said, “ I want to go home. So, as soon as I could sit up, Mrs. Wozniak walked me out to my brand new 1970 yellow Volkswagen. I went home. I decided that I had had enough of dental work, and I was going to get a new and different job.

The next morning I didn’t get up early and go to work, I told my parents I wasn’t going to go to Dr. Wozniak’s office again. My parents were upset because up until the day before, I had been working there. Just about then, Mrs. Wozniak called our house. I lived in a different town, about a twenty-five-minute drive from the dental office. My mother talked quietly on the phone to Mrs. Wozniak and then my mother called me into the kitchen and said, “ Mrs. Wozniak said, “you have to come to work, they need you, Dr. Wozniak needs you, You have to go to work. So. Susan, go in and get your uniform on and get ready to go. I‘ll pack you a lunch. So, sure enough, that’s exactly what I did/ I wasn’t in the habit of disobeying my parents. So, if they said I had to go. Then I would go. 

I was nervous on the whole ride to Dr. Wozniak’s office, but I went there. When I arrived, when I walked into the office, they were both waiting for me. And they had smiles on their faces. They said that they missed me so much, and I was an excellent dental assistant, and they wouldn’t want to lose me. So, I looked at them, and they looked back at me with smiles on their faces. And I said, “OK, I’m alright, I just didn’t know you were going to pull all her teeth out. They smiled. Mrs. Wozniak gave me a quick hug, and Dr. Wozniak said, “ Let’s get to work, Susan. The first patient of the day is on their way. And sure enough, I heard the doorbell ring, and I went into the waiting room and directed the patient into the exam so they could get X-rays. And that was the beginning of a new day. I never passed out. Since Dr. Wozniak made a point of telling me when he was going to extract all of somebody’s teeth, and I wouldn’t have another horrible surprise.

I worked for Dr. Wozniak for several more years. Until I decided that I had to work in a different job because I had only Sundays off, and I didn’t have time for a personal life. And at the time, I wanted to find a boyfriend more than anything. And life went on, and eventually I found another job writing and selling high-risk Auto Insurance with the Ellis Brothers. And that was the beginning of a new chapter in my life.

Little did I know, but I had many adventures ahead of me and a variety of different types of employment. You will have to wait for the next chapter, my friends, until then, take care.