Secretary had little leisure time at McMurdo Sound

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33779, 27 February 1975, Page 6

Secretary had little leisure time at McMurdo Sound

Four months at McMurdo Sound as .an administrative secretary to representatives of the National Science Foundation was “an experience of a life-time,” says Miss Jan Boyd, of California.

( ence Foundation (American). I “I applied for the job to ; go to McMurdo and it was a matter of being in the right! i place at the right time to ■ jget it.” she said. “Then I! ! had to pass a fairly stiff medical test.” A fit, ’ energetic young j woman of 21, Jan Boyd had! no health problems at the) i Antarctic. Her only mishap (was a slip when running upi i some stairs, which resulted ' !in a sprained ankle. VARIETY OF DUTIES “Basically, my job was to co-ordinate with the scientists their requirements for i their work,” she said yesterday. “This included typing

But it was “no sinecure. ( < Miss Boyd worked six and a half days a week and usual- • I lx 12 hours a day. "It has become evident! that secretaries are needed there to handle adminis- 1 trative details,” she said in Christchurch yesterday. Another secretary went! ’with her to McMurdo Sound . < last October — Mrs Elena 1 'Marty, whose husband is al, resident engineer at the base. Jan Boyd is employed as a i secretary by Holmes and i N’arver Inc. in Anaheim, CalI ifornia. a company under ’contract to the National Sci- •

outgoing messages to my >i company, for the United States Navy, the National : i Science Foundation and j world-wide universities. I 'also had to type manifestoes for all the civilian personnel and co-ordinate passenger j flights, as well as draft some I', labour reports and sort in|coming messages.” Jan estimates that she I typed about 900 outgoing 'messages and sorted thousands which came into her office. She had one short assignintent at the South Pole staj tion as a secretary in the 'construction office. In her brief leisure time -Is h e “hiked around” I McMurdo Sound well wrapped to take photographs for colour slides. : “My mother has lined me iup to show my slides to the > neighbours when I eget (home,” she laughed. One evening she was ! taken to watch men and I women scientists fishing in a I deep hole cut in the ice to I get fish for their experiments.

“Otherwise I spent my I time off writing masses of (letters and reading.” she (said. The weather outside was not as cold as she expected it to be and the buildings were always warm inside, except when the heat went ' off one day. That was a time j for putting on plenty of (extra woollies. CHRISTMAS Christmas was a rather sad time for those at McMurdo Sound. They 'missed their families. But it snowed and Jan Boyd will always remember her first “white Christmas.” “I opened my presents ;from my family and friends (then, after drinking a bottle (of champagne, I felt a little better,” she said. “New Year was a much happier time We had a really good party then.” After seeing no rain for four months, Jan Boyd arrived in Christchurch in time for recent downpours and feels it is still not warm enough here to go “body surfing” — one of her favourite pastimes. “I’ll have to postpone my

swimming until I get to Sydney at the end of the 'week.” In the meantime Jan is helping to make inventories of cold weather gear at the (National Science Founda(tion’s warehouse, Christchurch airport.

And when she returns to • the United States on March ’ 10 it will be back to work , in Anaheim. i “1 have to support myself ,— and my two plain old cars,” Jan Boyd said.