{"id":7239,"date":"2016-04-13T16:29:41","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T23:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogschapman.wpenginepowered.com\/alumni\/2016\/04\/13\/sitter-sailor-waitress-mailer\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T06:43:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T06:43:35","slug":"sitter-sailor-waitress-mailer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/alumni\/2016\/04\/13\/sitter-sailor-waitress-mailer\/","title":{"rendered":"Sitter, Sailor, Waitress, Mailer"},"content":{"rendered":"

My father, Tony Zimmerman, possessed a strong work ethic that filtered down to me. He taught algebra and history in Tucson, Arizona, and he had a few avocations to support a family of five children. A jack-of-all-trades, contrary to the old adage, he was master of those he tackled. To supplement his teaching income he had summer jobs, such as testing milk for a dairy and in construction. He also kept about a hundred stands of bees.<\/p>\n

\"barnes-blog-1\"The honey business was a family affair throughout the entire year. I helped Dad assemble bee frames and embed wax sheets in them. When we finished, I ran my hands over the perfect, hexagonal holes in the new wax, taking in its clean aroma.<\/p>\n

After worker bees gathered their spring harvest of golden catclaw and mesquite honey, my father extracted it and poured it into a five-gallon can. Mom slowly warmed it on the kitchen stove, filling the house with a sweet aroma. After they strained the honey again and poured it into pint and quart jars, at the kitchen table we children glued pretty labels to them.<\/p>\n

\n

In the years that I attended Chapman College on Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles, I earned about half of my expenses and my father paid the rest. In my freshman year I ran copies of an alumni newsletter through an Addressograph machine in a musty basement. I also helped my roommate Frances and her older sister Laura operate a laundry service for the men\u2019s dormitory. That year and the next I babysat for neighborhood residents.<\/p>\n

\"barnes-blog-2\"All four years of college I waited on tables in the coed dining room, managed by Tiny Piper, Chapman alumnus, who also owned a cafeteria on Catalina Island. Each summer I sailed to the island with college pals to work as a cashier at Tiny Piper\u2019s Cafeteria, staying in a dorm with a proper dorm mother. In our leisure time we sunbathed on the beach, hiked on the island, and danced at the Avalon Ballroom.<\/p>\n

In my junior year an author employed me to type a book he was writing. For a brief time I had another job in the same neighborhood as a maid. When I asked the lady of the house if I could practice my singing while I worked, she dismissed me. Or maybe she didn\u2019t like the way I polished her silverware.<\/p>\n

In my senior year I had a scholarship as a soprano in a quartet. We sang in Los Angeles churches, and one evening when we were returning from Pasadena, we had an accident on the freeway. No one was seriously hurt, but I ended up with a black eye and couldn\u2019t appear in public for a while. Sadly, the group was disbanded and my scholarship terminated.<\/p>\n

\"barnes-blog-3\"That same year a friend with a weekly paper route paid me to help him. On Saturday mornings we delivered newspapers, enjoying the perks of sunshine and fresh air.<\/p>\n

Mailer, waitress, laundress, secretary, baby sitter, housekeeper, typist, cashier, singer, and papergirl.<\/strong> Thanks to my father, I didn\u2019t find these tasks demeaning, having been taught there was no disgrace in work. My industrious English-Irish and Swiss-German ancestors were farmers, merchants, teachers, preachers, and even governors. Perhaps there was a successful horse thief or two among them.<\/p>\n

Story by author Mary Ellen Barnes<\/em>
\nHistorical fiction, memoir, Arizona history<\/em>
\nmaryellenbarnes.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Explore and Connect Further:<\/strong><\/h2>\n