DESK REPLACED BY DANCING; LANCASTER SENIOR KEEPS ON HER TOES DURING RETIREMENT.

Byline: Bettie Rencoret Senior columnist

Barbara Parkhurst whisked in from a tap dancing session with the Boogie Woogie Mamas and proclaimed that retirement is great.

``I'm really enjoying every minute of it,'' she said.

The 1952 Antelope Valley High School grad wound up with a total of 27 civil service years when she cleaned out her desk at the Lancaster sheriff's station on March 31.

Her 12 years' tenure there was a labor of love, and she left with mixed feelings because she was going to miss all the wonderful people she had worked with and grown fond of.

``I knew I was going to miss seeing them every day, but I also knew I could hardly wait to spend more time around home doing all the things I'd been wanting to do for a long time,'' she said.

She started at the old station on Avenue J and 10th Street West, during the years when a central switchboard system routed incoming calls for the myriad county offices housed in the contiguous courts complex.

Prior to her sheriff's station experience, Parkhurst worked at several other jobs, beginning at Scott's Department Store on Lancaster Boulevard.

``I only worked there briefly in 1969. When I got an opportunity to go to work for Starksen's Chevrolet with a $25 a month raise to $300, I took it,'' she said, laughing.

At Starksen's, she was the inventory control clerk.

``I learned to operate a switchboard on the little switchboard they had there,'' Parkhurst said.

That turned out to be a good thing. When she took on a second job at Sears at the same time, she not only worked in the sportswear department but operated the store's switchboard.

She eventually went full-time at Sears until a friend, Phyllis McLain, who worked for the Los Angeles County Department of Building and Safety, convinced her she should take the county job test.

She passed the test, and in a short time was called in for an interview and hired.

She trained at the sheriff's station for two weeks, then went to the Lancaster offices of the Department of Social Services.

She worked there five years, she said, before she went over to the station and worked the switchboard for the county offices for three years.

``Then I got replaced by a computer,'' she said.

Things just seemed to work out for her in spite of what might have been a low blow. She enrolled in some courses at Antelope Valley College, including various clerical subjects and a class in computers.

While she was going to school, she was hired by the District Attorney's Office as clerk receptionist in the child support division. When she passed her typing test, she was promoted to intermediate typist clerk.

``They were just bringing computers into the DA's Office. We were asked, Who wants to do that? And everybody else said, Not me! But I already had taken a semester of computers at the college, so I said, I'll do it.''

When county officials began talking about hiring a private company to take over what Parkhurst and others were doing, she transferred to the sheriff's station.

Each new step Parkhurst took was a promotion with a pay raise.

She tested for supervising sheriff's station clerk and passed.

When the Crescenta Valley station had an opening, she went down for an interview.

``It's good experience to interview. Each time you do, you get better at it,'' she said.

``And if you want to advance, you have to go where the openings are. I got that job, but it meant driving over the (Angeles) Crest every day. I did it for nine months.''

When she learned that the supervisor at the Lancaster station was retiring, Parkhurst interviewed for that job.

She got the job and was there another seven years before she retired.

A native of Minneapolis, Minn., Parkhurst came to Lancaster with her family in 1948 and attended the old Cedar Avenue School in the eighth grade.

All five of her children were born and raised here. They are Susan Yslas of Quartz Hill; Frank Yslas of Tacoma, Wash.; Judy Palma of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Janet Orr of Lancaster; and Beverly Goodell of Tehachapi.

In addition to dancing with the Boogie Woogie Mamas, Parkhurst is enjoying a quilting class, reading New Age literature and learning to golf.

She's a 50-year member of the Lancaster United Methodist Church, where she has chaired many commissions and volunteers in the soup kitchen.

Since 1964, she has been a member of Beta Sigma Phi and has held many positions, serving in the top post several times.

Music is vital to her. She performs in the church's Oliver Handbell Choir, plays piano for her own pleasure and belongs to the Antelope Valley Community Concerts Association.

She also loves to travel and enjoyed a cruise to Puerto Vallarta not long ago. In the new millennium, she plans a trip to Germany and Switzerland for the Oberamergau festival.

``I'm really looking forward to that,'' she said.

LANCASTER - Seniors who want to get a jump start on their holiday shopping will have an opportunity to do so on Saturday at the Holiday Boutique at the Antelope Valley Senior Center, 777 W. Jackman St.

Tables will display handmade creations as well as other giftables and homemade food items from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., said Janice Gardner, president of the Friends of the Center.

Menus for the week at the senior life nutrition sites in Lancaster, Palmdale and Pearblossom have been announced. All meals include bread, margarine and coffee, tea or milk for the suggested donation of $2.

Monday: Polish sausage, parsleyed potatoes, cooked cabbage, garden salad, oatmeal cookies.

Tuesday: Crispy chicken, mashed potatoes, beets, carrot/raisin salad, banana.

Wednesday: Beef tips, parsleyed noodles, broccoli, lettuce/tomato salad, ice cream.

Thursday: Turkey w/bread dressing, butternut squash, tossed salad, juice, fruit.

Friday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, fiesta coleslaw, orange Jell-O w/pineapple.

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Photo

PHOTO Barbara Parkhurst finds many activities to fill her time since retiring in March.

Bettie Rencoret/Staff Photographer