By Carol Swantek, July 12, 2017 — When I was 18 years old, I worked at Murphy’s in the West Erie Plaza after I graduated high school. I met my husband on a blind date. He was a teacher and we lived in Ellwood City for about a year and my son was born there. We moved back to Erie, and my husband got a job in Erie. I was a full-time homemaker for a long time. I had three sons. I did some part-time jobs, and I was able to belong to a lot of things such as PTA, and I was a Cub Scout leader for 4 years. I also used to help in the cafeteria and sing in a choir.
We used to go on trips with our boys, such as Niagara Falls, and camping in Warren. We liked that. After they grew up, I worked full-time. I really liked working at the Regency at South Shore. I was an activities director and also a receptionist. I also drove the bus and took residents to the doctor appointments. They were not full of residents, so I was like a jack-of-all-trades. I worked there for 2 years. I was a hostess at Eat’n Park for 9 years. My son unfortunately passed away, he had problems. Unfortunately, my husband and I separated. We had been married for 26 years. A couple years later, I met Chuck and we have been married for 23 years. So that was kind of like a full-time career, taking care of our family and everything.