After graduation from Lake View in 1947, I began my working career at Ampro Corporation as junior sales secretary [48], then advanced my secretarial career by accepting a position with DeVry Corporation, working for a senior salesman.  Both Ampro and DeVry were manufacturers of motion picture projectors and slide machines.

Still a sales secretary but searching for the right job, I accepted a position in 1950 with Empire Box Corporation.  The location of Empire Box influenced me more than the job - 19 East Chestnut Street in Chicago - which was becoming a popular area of the near north side known as Rush Street, where fashionable boutiques, night clubs and restaurants were located.

In 1951, about the time Ed Ozzie and I met, my career direction happily changed when I began working for the Vice President of Union Relations with Joseph T. Ryerson Steel Corporation - a challenging and fascinating position with varied responsibilities and so different than anything I had ever undertaken.

Well, I probably would still be working at Joseph T. Ryerson but Ed Ozzie and I had other plans ... one year after Ed and I met, we were married, and in early 1953 I left my challenging job of approximately eighteen months for another challenging lifelong career of being a Mom!

Being a stay-at-home mom for nineteen years could not have been more challenging for me but the idea of working again presented itself and in 1972 I began working for Protection Mutual Insurance Company in Park Ridge and continued working there until my retirement in 1993

1947 - Mary Ann Fischer at work.  Ampro Corporation on Western Avenue near home.  First job!  [48A]


1947 - Mary Ann Fischer at work.  Ampro Corporation on Western Avenue near home.  First job!  [48B]