Adults having trouble finding jobs, too

Raising her three children is tough enough for Darlene Nezos, but doing it without a job has brought her to the brink.

In tears on Tuesday, Darlene, a 39-year-old Carson resident, described what she loves to do and asks why she hasn't been allowed to do it.

She holds a class B license and has worked delivering home health care supplies and as a contract mail carrier.

Her troubles began when she took a new job earlier this year. Three weeks after she started, the manager walked out and the new boss wanted to change her schedule.

She was lucky in that she had a contract for the new schedule and when she was let go, she could collect unemployment.

Ever since, she says she has been beating the bushes looking for driving work so she can get off unemployment and support her family.

One of the problems she faces as a mother is that she doesn't want to work after 6 p.m. or on weekends.

"I want to be there when my kids come home," she said. "I want to help them with their homework and make their meals."

Her oldest daughter is 17 and working delivering pizzas and her two other children are 7 and 10 years old.

She tearfully says her son is helping out by mowing lawns and even her little 7-year-old daughter is following in her son's footsteps.

"I'm here because I'm worried and scared and I don't know what to do," she said. "I'm loyal, honest and hardworking. I just hope there is someone out there who can help keep me off welfare."

Darlene said it would be OK for me to include her phone number if there is anyone out there who can help. You can reach her at 885-6931.

I hadn't heard from Capital City Humane Society's Isabel Young for a while until last week, when she called me to stop her newspaper because she is in the hospital for a hip replacement.

She was walking around on a broken hip and crushed it. The 84-year-old Carson resident said that at midnight before her operation, the anesthesiologist balked at the operation, pointing out she had only a 25 percent chance of survival.

"I made up my mind to go anyway," she said. "The operation was successful and I beat the odds."

As it turns out, Isabel's partner in crime and fellow humane society staff member, Betty Horrocks, was in the next room for gall bladder surgery.

Betty is home now and Isabel is undergoing rehabilitation, though she says the physical therapists aren't that happy at her progress.

"They say I'm not aggressive enough, and a friend of mine said, 'Who are they talking about? Not you.'"

Dayton's Bob Browne has organized 17 golf tournaments but has never played golf.

Bob is presently working on a May 17 tournament for the Carson City Kiwanis. He produced the tournament for the Dayton Kiwanis last year, but decided to move over to Carson's club.

The tournament will be at Eagle Valley Golf Course and will be the first for the Carson Kiwanis.

"The first one is always the toughest," Bob said. "After that people get used to them."

As to never playing golf, Bob has a simple explanation.

"I've been in business all my life working from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.," he said. "When do you play golf? During the day. I played night sports like basketball and softball."

Nevada native Mae Morrison McGowan celebrated her 97th birthday a few months early on Saturday at her home in Carson City.

Born Mae Nevada Martin on Oct. 19, 1906, in Yerington to Nevada-born parents George William and Alice Farrell Martin, she graduated from Yerington High School in 1924.

From 1951-57 Mae worked in the office of then-Gov. Charles Russell serving as executive assistant to the governor for one year.

In addition to her many friends and family members, Mae's daughter, Barbara Morrison Jackson of Forestville, Calif., and stepdaughter, Donna Rae Dericco, of Fallon, and their entire families attended the celebration. McGowan has 12 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren.

Kurt Hildebrand is acting city editor of the Nevada Appeal. Reach him at 881-1215 or e-mail him at khildebrand@nevadaappeal.com