Holly's Story

Mom and Dad were poor, so having me home helped us a little bit. Mom used to be sick a lot. At the time I walked out of school she was really sick. I went home and I just said to Dad, 'I left school'. He didn't say very much, because Dad didn't have much education. All he could do was write his name.

I wouldn't let anybody know that I couldn't read or write. If you went to work in a store, you would find it very easy. I would have to work twice as hard to keep up with you, because I wouldn't know how to read and write. More jobs I went to, and I was there for years and they wanted to promote me. There was a lot of reading and writing and I just had to decline. That hurt a little bit too, because I was still in the same place all the time, while new people were coming in and passing me.

I was 15 years old when I worked at a grocery store. That was my first job. I think I worked there for about eight months. Then I was home, just doing odds and ends, babysitting here and there for a few dollars. When I turned 17 I went up to Toronto with my boyfriend. I knew then that I needed education, but I still couldn't see myself going back to school - even up there - although I didn't know anybody. I just didn't want anybody to know that I didn't know how to read and write.

So, I got a job in a factory and worked there for 10 years. The boss scared me, because he said he was going to promote me anyway, whether I liked it or not. This job was having to do a lot of reading, and I couldn't tell him that I couldn't read. He passed me this book and told me to take it home and start reading because I was going to rebuild offset copier machines. After eight months, I had three or four machines rebuilt from scratch. But I felt that wasn't for me, because I was dirty all the time, and my hands were getting so terrible. So after eight months, I just said I couldn't handle it any more.