Tenant Spotlight: Meet Agnes
Park Vista Apartments in El Segundo, California is a very special place, home to seniors for over thirty years. Our latest tenant spotlight from this vibrant community is Agnes. Agnes has been a Park Vista resident since 1996, and when she moved in she brought with her a fascinating history that followers her trail from the Midwest to California. We thought you’d like to hear it, too.
Born in Dayton, Ohio, Agnes has always had a love of learning. While attending high school, Agnes was accepted into an innovative educational program that gave female students practical skills to apply in the business world. Agnes was part of the first class of 47 young women to graduate from this program, and every woman in that class entered directly into a job after high school, a scenario that was quite progressive for the times.
Agnes’ career began at the Sterling Rubber Products in Dayton, working as the owner’s secretary. She held that job for five years, and was paid $42.50 a week—hard for us to imagine in today’s world, yet that was a respectable salary for a woman in that era. But career wasn’t the only important thing in Agnes’ life at this time: in 1949, she met her husband-to-be, and they eventually married and had two children, Susy and Paul.
Her career moved forward as her children grew and Agnes has an interesting 17-year stint as an employee of the University of Dayton, working with an Austrian physicist known for inventing a rare cobalt magnet. While under his employ, Agnes was asked to organize a 100-person workshop to take place at UC San Diego. At that workshop, an attendee was so impressed with her work ethic that he invited her to interview for a position at Aerospace Corporation, and so her official journey to California began.
In 1978, Agnes settled into El Segundo, California to start her job at Aerospace. She worked there for a year and a half before another opportunity presented itself: she became the Human Resources Administrator for Allied Chemical (now known as Honeywell) and served in that role for 15 years, enjoying every minute of it. Meanwhile, her love for education continued, as she found the time and energy to attend night classes at Loyola Marymount University while still working full-time.
Agnes finally retired from her professional career in December of 1996 when she moved into Park Vista, but she has never slowed down. She spends many hours volunteering, swimming and being actively involved in her church community at American Martyrs Catholic Church in Manhattan Beach. She has always enjoyed traveling to places like London, Switzerland, France and Germany and continues to travel around Europe whenever she gets the chance. In the few moments she stands still, Agnes is happy to talk about her international travels, her church community, and how very much she loves making friends and living her life at Park Vista.
We love having you there, Agnes. Thank you for sharing your story with us!