My Very First Work Experience!

Hi, Vince,

I stumbled upon your website quite some time ago and have periodically visited it ever since then. More recently, I have been exploring it more and more. In particular, I am especially fond of the "Memories" section. I return to that section again and again. At times, I simply enjoy reading the experiences of others (visitors, as well as workers at the park). Other times, I search for familiar persons.

I myself - now fifty-three years old - worked at the park during its last two seasons - 1970 and 1971, when I was fifteen and sixteen. Fortunate for me (from my perspective), I got to work for Al Nasif, who operated the three famous French fry stands, the waffle stand (delicious too), and the restaurant - The Circus - which enabled me to see lots of performers (since it was adjacent to the Casino stage and concert area).

Anyway, I write to you now with the hope that you might somehow find enough space in your "Memories" section to include not this letter in particular, but rather, to include the WORD* document that I am attaching to this letter. While I do realize that this document is somewhat long, I am also thinking that your website's visitors might really enjoy it.

In fact, the document is the first chapter of a book that I am writing about (of all things) my twenty-five years of experiences as a nurse!!! Never did I intend to include anything about Palisades Amusement Park in the book (titled, by the way, "Write Me Out of the Story"). However, one thing led to another, which all brought me back to the beginning . . . more precisely, back to my very first work experience, which was at Palisades. Interestingly, as remote as my experiences at the Park might seem to my experiences as a nurse, the whole contrast between these two very different versions of reality began to unfold into something much more interesting and enticing and enjoyable (at least, from my perspective, this has been so).

So, as much as I would like to share some of my own memories in their entirety via your publishing on your website the attached WORD document in its entirety, I do understand that this might not be possible. Nonetheless, I do hope that you at least enjoy it.

Thanks for creating such a great 'communal' space for the sharing of some once-in-a-lifetime memories at Palisades Amusement Park. Great idea . . . great job putting it together!!!

Sincerely . . . very sincerely,

Diane Doumit

* Editor's Note: I have converted the excerpt from Diane's book into a PDF to make it more compatible for our visitors. You can read it here. Thanks, Diane, for sharing your story with us.