Voices of the mill: Patricia Reiman, 92, of Bothell

In this series, we're telling the stories of what the Kimberly-Clark mill closure means for workers and for Everett, which has been defined by mills for more than a century.

Pat Reiman's three girls were in school and she found herself alone at home — ready to go back to work.

In 1966, she found a job through a placement service at Scott Paper Co., serving as an executive secretary to a manager.

She's long retired but she remembers those days well. She took dictation, answered the phone, filed, sorted and opened the mail.

Her typing — and this was back in the days of manual typewriters — had to be perfect, because she drew up legal documents.

Reiman worked in the building with the managers, starting at a time when men worked in the mills and women in offices.

She helped break at least one barrier. She remembers being one of the first women to wear something other than a skirt to work.

“I was one of the first ones brave enough to show up in a pants suit,” she said.

She liked the work but she liked the people even more.

“I had good friends,” she said. “That's true.”