Denise's Careers
Getting
to know someone involves learning what they have
accomplished during their life. Who I am today involves knowing what
I have done with my life. So far, I
have earned four college degrees, including an MBA,
and two graduate level certificates. My
three careers have each involving writing.
What I term my fourth career, a passion that has spanned more
then three decades, is genealogy.
As a Journalist
During my first career, I worked as a
journalist for daily and weekly newspapers.
As a writer (news and
features) or editor of weekly and daily newspapers,
I worked for The
Jamestown (ND) Sun
and Lodi (CA)
News-Sentinel. I also wrote for US Army
weekly newspapers in Japan (Camp Zama),
Germany (1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery),
Ft. Hood, TX, and at
Ft. Huachuca, AZ.
Perhaps my years as a news and feature writer, and editor, is why I believe that the unrestricted exchange of information is itself a corner stone of our democracy. For, to restrict information also restricts the ability of a people, any people, to act intelligently. During the early months of 1997 I met the man who authored and was the legislative father of the Freedom of Information Act, John Emerson Moss.
In the Military
My second career was as a member of the US Army. I retired -- a permanent disability retirement for an untreated knee injury -- from the US Army in March 1983. The first half of my military career was spent as a journalist.
The last half of my military career was spent as a senior investigator with military counterintelligence, cross trained in criminal investigation. I also graduated from the Defense Language Institute from the Basic German course.
I spent nearly six years with the 527th Military Intelligence Battalion, 66th Military Intelligence Group, assigned to the Mannheim Field Office (later Mannheim Resident Office) in Germany, between January 1977 and June 1982.
As a Technical Writer
My third career, working as a writer at various technical companies in Silicon Valley (the San Francisco Bay Area), lasted from January 1984 until my retirement in late October 2009. My last position was with Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA, where I worked for nearly 10 years as their lead technical writer. The company produces radiation treatment equipment, and the software to both control the process and manage patients and treatments, for use in treating cancer.
In October 2009 I "retired". We sold our condo in California and moved to Western Washington. A month after we arrived our alpaca herd arrived. We reside on a small ranch of nearly 10 acres.