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Phyllis Beaulieu, now of Dedham, Maine, began working at the Eastern Fine Paper mill
in Brewer in 1949, when it was still called Eastern Manufacturing.
She started out in the mill’s bindery, where
"we put all different colors of paper together and they would put a bind on them
and they’d send it to all the customers."
Phyllis, who grew up in South Brewer and graduated from Brewer High School in 1946,
recalls the difficulty of finding a job as a young woman in the late 1940s:
"First I worked five years part-time - of course work back then was hard to come by
after the war, see so many came home from the service and took over the jobs."
During her 40 years at Eastern - "I went in at 22 and come out at 62" -
Phyllis worked in numerous areas of the mill.
In addition to the bindery, she worked out in the mill wrapping reams and sorting paper;
in the advertising and sample departments; payroll; and in the mill stores (parts department).
Later, Phyllis typed purchase orders in the main office, and spent 18 years in the mill’s
laboratory making new colors for paper, and testing pH and biochemical oxygen demands
(BODs) in the mill’s wastewater.
Phyllis met her husband, Larry Beaulieu, a piper, while working at the mill.
Between them Larry and Phyllis put in more than 80 years at Eastern.
Phyllis retired in 1988.
Her husband has since passed away, and Phyllis continues to live in the little home
they bought and fixed up together shortly after their marriage in 1958.
January 23, 2006 Interview with Phyllis Beauliex
July 24, 2006 follow-up Interview with Phyllis Beauliex
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