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Show T Tilltop 10 HILLTOP TIMES TIMES March 14, 2013 WOLFENBARGER From page 9 accomplishments and the direction women are headed in the Air Force, she said that she never wanted to be recognized for simply being a woman. "I wanted to do well and be recognized because I worked hard," said Wolfenbarger. "I did the very best I could at every job I held." During the early 1980s, when Wolfenbarger was in the early stages of her career, she told stories of women who could be discharged for getting pregnant or even adopting a child. There were also many more career fields closed to women at the time. She believes that over the past three decades, women have made tremendous strides. "We now have, not only mater- nity leave, but also paternity leave for our service members," she said. "Also, when I joined, there were a host of career fields closed to wornen, but we can now, as a service, proudly say that we have 97 percent of our career fields open to women." Even though Wolfenbarger believes many women entering the Air Force today may take for granted their equal status, she said there are still areas of progress yet to be overcome. "I think one of our challenges when we serve our country is that there is such a drive to support our nation in whatever mission we are assigned. I think there has to be a constant reminder that we all have to search for that work and life balance because, in the end, it is our families, our friends and our health that we have to rely on when our careers are over." MARY LOU GORNY/Hilltop Times Rich Essary, 75th Air Base Wing Public Affairs media specialist, watches a broadcast March 12 of the "Price is Right," a gameshow in which he participated in January. He won $26,000 in prizes on the show. Watching with him are his girlfriend, Kathy Montgomery, and standing are Cindy Vigil (left), Protocol Officer, and Melodie Evans, chief, Personnel Resource and Manpower Management, who stopped by briefly to see Essary compete on the Showcase Showdown, the show's final segment. ESSARY audience, who then try to accurately price items that range in value from the humble to the "Holy cow!" Eaves and Essary each were chosen to play from a field of about 300. Essary's episode was filmed Jan. 9, and Eaves' on Jan. 30. "I think it is cool that two people from Ogden, at about the same time, were on 'The Price Is Right,' " Essary said. "That is awesome." As to how it was that the producers happened to choose two contestants from Ogden so close together, the program's public relations representative Megan Barker said, "My guess is, it is just a coincidence, just a fluke thing." As far as she knows, Barker said, no other Ogden-area contestants are appearing on the program in the near future. Though Eaves did not end up competing for the final grand-prize showcase, he did walk away with a $20,000 bonus, courtesy of Publisher's Clearinghouse, as well as cameras, a Honda dirt bike, Kate Spade accessories and a top model Dell computer. "This was one of the most awesome things that has ever happened to us," Eaves said of the appearance he and wife Kara made on the show. "My wife tells me she loves me more now than ever before. I asked her, `How about when I proposed, or when we got married?' She said, 'Sure, sure, those are up there, too — but you just won $20,000!' Essary, the chief of media relations at Hill Air Force Base, was excited to see the broadcast. "The airing of the episode has been a long time coming," he reported. "Having to wait until March 12 to actually see it air seemed like forever. What created even more excitement was already knowing how the show turned out and not being able to openly share with my family and friends the prizes I had won." Both Eaves and Essary admit that they would not even have been on the show without the support of their womenfolk. Eaves' wife said she has watched the show faithfully for decades. Essary's girlfriend, Kathy Montgomery, who works at the Syracuse Walmart, watched the show casually as a girl. She took up studying strategy in earnest last fall, after adding "The Price Is Right" tickets to a trip to Disneyland she had planned for Essary's 40th birthday. "She made me study," Essary said. "She DVRed it, and then we would sit down every day and watch it together. She was the one into going — but I admit I was kind of excited, too." As Essary and Montgomery learned from careful viewing, people who get picked often sport T-shirts with clever messages about the show. They decided to get two custom-made T's. Said Essary: "We got them in black — because I turned 40, black was appropriate, we figured. "I wrote, 'All I want for my 40th birthday is to hear, Richard, you're the next contestant on 'The Price Is Right.' "And Kathy's said, 'All I want for my boyfriend's 40th birthday is for him to hear, Kathy, you're the next contestant on "The Price Is Right." ' " Montgomery believes Essary clinched his spot during the interview portion before the program. That's when producers come out and talk to groups of about 15 people. "All they ask the people in the group is, `What do you do?' " Montgomery said. "You'd give your answer, and then the producer comes back with a smart comment to see how you react. "But Richard didn't stop at saying he works for Hill. He started going off — how I brought him here for his birthday, and how we got the shirts made. I think they remembered that when it came time to pick." Essary encourages anyone who has thought of going to "The Price Is Right" to do it. "Even if you aren't selected to go onstage, just being in the audience is really exciting and fun, with the music pump- ing, and the energy all around, and you, yelling out prices like a crazy person. I mean, getting that excited about a box of macaroni and cheese?" Essary laughed. "It is just a good time. I encourage people to go ahead and try." Eaves agreed. "It is such a fun and energycharged atmosphere. And people get so excited to go onstage with (show host) Drew Carey. When he comes out, with all his energy, it is so awesome, it just goes through the roof." Essary reported after viewing the broadcast that the show brought back memories about the day it was filmed. "There's a really long vetting process for the more than 300 people who actually get in to the studio audience," he said. "It took about six hours from the time we arrived at CBS until we actually got inside the studio for filming. Between filling out paperwork and group interviews with the show's producers, there's a lot of waiting, so during that time you get to know a lot about the people you're in line with." Essary admitted the experience was a little surreal. "Being one of the first four contestants called down and then bidding correctly enough to actually get on stage with Drew Carey, I am still saying to myself, Wow!' The show is iconic. I remember watching it when I was a kid before I was even in grade school," he said. "It's definitely a fun story that I'll be able to share with others for the rest of my life." Mary Lou Gorny, Hilltop Times editor, contributed material to this article. vvvvw.facebook.com/hiltatmil TEAM HILL acebookPAG E Become a fan today and stay current on news, events and other happenings on Hill Air Force Base. 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