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Show Divorce, death can alter plans, create job needs KAYSVILLE - What do you do when a divorce hits your home? There's the trauma for the children, chil-dren, financial and other settlements settle-ments not to mention the pain and readjustment. That may not signal the end of it, though. For Sue Damewood, training to be a welder at the Davis Area Vocational Center, her separation and eventual divorce has meant she had to get a job. More than a job, she needed a vocation with skills to support herself and son. , "I hadn't worked in six years. A waitress' wages just aren't enough to support a family. I'd been pretty much out of circulation-had no skills." A girlfriend told Sue about, DAVC, so she paid a visit to the Kaysville facility that offers training train-ing in many fields for both adults and high school students. "I was impressed with the (welding) (weld-ing) shop. I'd seen my father weld a couple times when I was a kid" but for some reason, that little exposure, expo-sure, triggered with other thoughts, led her to sign up in Roger Ro-ger Williams' class. "I didn't know anything when I came here, but people have really been good to help me." The only female in a class for a field traditionally pursued only by males, Sue did have five other coeds co-eds in the class when she started. That singularity doesn't seem to Continued on next page Plans can change Continued from previous page bother her, though. She's been studying the various sequences for nearly a year, wanting to certify in several areas. If need be, she'll make use of dual shield skills in the shipyards back home in Oregon. "I just want to make sure that when I've finished school I can find a job," Sue says with the sound of success in her voice. "If you think you can do it, sometimes things get complicated, but you can overcome it." She gives "excellent" marks to her instructor. "Even when I feel I'm doing poorly, he's'there with encouraging words. He gives me the confidence I need. Sometimes I think he has more confidence in me than I do in myself." Other students are also a big help, Sue emphasizes. If an item's too heavy, fellow classmates are all too willing to help out. Or if she forgets something, the answer's aN ways nearby with someone. Sue is what's called a "displaced ' homemaker" in a "non-traditional occupation." That's the official term on her records at DAVC. She's hardly alone, there, as the facility trains many like her in skills from business occupations to data processing. Yvonne Garcia is another somewhat some-what older than "normal" student considered-for the record-an en-rollee en-rollee in "basic skills training." In a little over a week, she'll start work on the second shift under supervisor su-pervisor Duane Hayes at Ail-American Ail-American Gourmet in Clearfield. She'll be one of 350 new employees ' as the frozen food firm starts up operations. She and fellow employees received re-ceived training before actually walking into the plant through the federal Job Training Partnership Act and DAVC creating specialized special-ized training. Yvonne, from Montana, came to Utah so her husband could attend Weber State College. It wasn't easy finding work for either one of them and, as she recalls, re-calls, "a waitress doesn't make a lot of money" so it was deemed necessary to try for another job. "It's been tough" for the family of five,' but Yvonne looks forward to a regular eight-hour-a-day guaranteed shift complete with insurance in-surance and other benefits. "Now things will be a lot easier. My husband will start working as a plumber's apprentice. He works day shift" and she'll work evenings. |