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Personal
View of Maud G. Ogilvie
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I began working for the Weather Bureau on June 13, 1944, in Lander,
Wyoming. I needed employment and was informed there was an opening
at the Weather Bureau, so applied and was hired. I had one year of
college, but no work history. At the Weather Bureau, I always used
the same name, except I have a nickname that some employees called
me - "Bunny."
I heard
about the opening from a friend who was being transferred to Anchorage,
Alaska, and she suggested I apply for the opening. The training I
received was on-the-job training for weather observations and also
studying Circular N. The first month I worked was the midnight shift
taking hourly observations. I started on other duties as time permitted.
I was always received in a very pleasant way by all personnel during
my employment with the Weather Service. My first impression was that
it was a very complicated position, but challenging and interesting.
I felt by studying and help from co-workers I was willing to try to
make a success of the employment.
The
first year I worked with three other women and the Official in Charge.
Our duties were mostly hourly observations, which were telephoned
to Rock Springs, Wyoming, to be transmitted, as we did not have a
teletype at that time for transmitting the weather information. Also
did necessary reports and gave information concerning weather to local
people by telephone.
In mid-1945
the Radiosonde was installed. I was trained for that program, which
was very interesting. At the time I went to work at the Weather Bureau,
the office was located on the third floor of the Federal Building,
where all observations were made from the roof. When the Radiosonde
program was installed, it was necessary to release them from the ground,
an adjacent building was used for inflation. During high winds at
time of release we had difficulty releasing due to wires, etc. The,
town of Lander decided to erect a new building at the Airport for
the Weather Bureau. In May, 1946, all equipment was moved to the new
location. It was a great improvement for releasing the Radiosonde.
A teletype was installed so all messages were transmitted directly
from the station.
There
were four women and four men employed to cover the shifts after the
Radiosonde program started. The three women [with whom] I started
working resigned at the time of the Radiosonde program so three more
women were hired to replace them. The Weather Bureau remained in that
location until September 20, 1973, when moved to another new building
near the old one.
My work
consisted of all shifts to cover the work. I worked forty hours a
week with eight-hour shifts unless necessary to work overtime. My
starting wage was $56.00 every two weeks. I always felt the morale
was very good as all employees were very congenial to work with. I
resigned from the Weather Bureau on April 13, 1951, the reason being
that I was having physical problems with shift work. The shifts had
to be rearranged from the regular shifts because of a shortage of
personnel.
I cannot
say I contributed a great deal, other than I tried to be a congenial
worker, doing my duties, being on time and willing to do more when
necessary.
It was
a most enjoyable time and work was very interesting. I met many interesting
people, which I still have contact with since leaving the Weather
Bureau. The only low point was having to leave because I was unable
to continue the shift work. It was a wonderful experience which I
enjoyed greatly, and I would certainly do it again because of the
interesting work. Editors' Note - With her report, Ms. Ogilvie included
a copy of a very interesting newspaper report by the Wyoming State
Journal, dated May 30, 1946, which tells of the move to the new building
at the Airport. Following are excerpts from that article which describe
the new facility: First observations at the new location were made
Tuesday evening. The Weather Bureau now occupies a building especially
built for the service, and from that building will be taken the radio-sonde
observations, as well as data which has been gathered from instruments
here for the past 65 years. Sometime soon there will be installed
a radio direction-finding apparatus that will chart even more detailed
information on upper air currents. It was to accommodate this latter
installation that the new quarters were necessary.
The
new building was built by the town of Lander and has been rented to
the Weather Bureau. The building is complete, except for the installation
of water and gas service. Temporary facilities have been installed
in order that the Weather Bureau can move. A fuel oil stove has been
installed to serve until the gas line can be laid to serve the building.
Drinking water is hauled to the building from down town. A semi-modern
two-holer provides temporary sanitary facilities.
