Willie, Georgina

GEORGINA WILLIE: A PROFILE

by Elizabeth Becker
(From Our Little World)

Nervousness among job applicants can be largely attributed to the theory that first impressions stick, a theory which Georgina Barone (now Willie) applied fully, if inadvertently, during her AFS interview in 1954. Panicked by realizing that she was chewing gum just before her introduction to Mr. Galatti, she hastily extracted the wad with her right hand---which the Director-General thereupon shook.

Mr. Galatti allayed her embarrassment with a cheerful "Think nothing of it. If we become friends, I'll tease you about it once in awhile," and Gina's training and bubbling disposition won her the position of AFS receptionist and switchboard operator.

Chickens, Pigs, and Officials

Georgina Barone was born in Sanchez, a city on a peninsula in the Dominican Republic. Her father is a country dentist; Gina often recalls him returning home with a chicken or duck in hand, his fee for a house visit.

When Gina was six, she moved to her aunt's home in Samana, a small city near the tip of the peninsula, to attend school. One of Gina's jobs while living with her aunt was that of pig-hider. Although the practice was strictly prohibited by city ordinance, her aunt kept a small pig in the back yard; finding new places to hide it became a family game. A friendly relationship with the city health inspector helped, as he always phoned before making his periodic check, giving Gina time to hide the animal---usually under her bed, she claims.

Life was not always carefree, however, under the elder Trujillo's regime. "He did a lot of good; he built hospitals, raised the standard of living, and promoted education by building schools even in the most rural areas," Gina comments, "but of course if you happened to tromp on his toes, you were sorry." Although "Big Brotherness" permeated the atmosphere, one of her relatives actually defied El Benefactor by refusing to place in her home a plaque reading "In this home Trujillo is chief." An official visited her on this matter, and she slammed the door in his face, saying, "In my home, only God is chief." The official did not return.

At 15, Gina came to New York to join her mother, who had settled here. Speaking only Spanish and a sprinkling of school English, she entered junior high school one week after her arrival. "Sure it was hard for a time but, because I really wanted to learn English, it came easily to me."

Her year of junior high was followed by four years at Manual Training Industrial School in Bordentown, N.J. Upon graduation she entered the Royal Business School on 42nd Street and studied secretarial courses, which shortly led to a secretarial job at the Family Service Bureau, a social welfare agency sponsored by the Salvation Army. As well as attending night school and working for the Bureau, Gina became a volunteer worker for the Urban League of Greater New York, doing "field work" in the form of investigating claims of discrimination against Negroes in employment opportunities.

Among the skills acquired at business schools was the operation of the switchboard. Fascinated by this flashing, buzzing riddle, she received extensive training at the New York Telephone Company, whose placement service arranged her interview at AFS.

When Gina took over as receptionist and switchboard operator in 1954, there were five trunks (lines out) and 20 office extensions. Now there are nine trunks and 39 extensions, and "that's not enough." During the normal day she estimates that there are more than 800 telephone calls; in the summer, because of additional calls about plane and bus arrivals and departures, the number increases to over 1,000.

Minor crises occur daily: deterring high-pressure salesmen, directing to the right office a phone call from a non-English speaking individual, or trying to connect a phone call with a staff member who has left his desk;. Gina is skilled in conducting such telephonic searches with efficiency and equanimity while handling all other calls. She also has a talent for spotting new staff assistants, be they temporary or permanent, and learning their respective departments, information which does not always reach her through the genially casual administrative channels of AFS/NY. She ruefully recalls, however, the time her careful screening of calls to Mr. Galatti's busy desk kept the White House waiting ten minutes before she realized that no practical joke was involved.

For a time Gina was Mr. Galatti's private secretary, but returned to the front desk because of her enjoyment in meeting so many interesting people by telephone and in person. One of her greatest pleasures is meeting the students: she observes that when they arrive, they stick closely to their own country groups, but at the conclusion of their year, the groups are mixed---Turks with Greeks, for instance, and Japanese with Swedes. "It is good so see this proof that AFS is accomplishing the goal at which it aims."

Baseball and Child Psychology

Outside of the office, Gina enjoys such vigorous activities as baseball, tennis, boating, and dancing. Her baseball interest, she fondly recalls, dates back to her childhood in Samana when she had enough cousins to form a complete team which could, and did, defeat all the other neighborhood children. In the office she soon learned that the staff too liked baseball, the Giants in particular, but she stood alone as a staunch Dodger supporter and was thus subject to much teasing. Mr. Galatti, in a machiavellian attempt at conversion, suggested that she write Willie Mays and tell him about AFS. She did; this resulted in an evening on the town on the invitation of the famous Giant slugger; Gina enjoyed it, but remained constant to the Dodgers throughout.

An aspiring nursery school teacher, Gina has studied child psychology in Brooklyn College night courses where she met her husband, Peter Willie, whom she married in 1957. Peter, who plans to become a lawyer, is a student at Rhodes School and a housing fireman at the New York City Housing Authority. They now have two children: a daughter, Stacy, three, and a son, Eric, two, who are cared for during the day by a cousin. Although Gina eventually hopes to teach, she realizes her plans must be postponed until the children are older.

Gina is an excellent dancer and enjoys particularly the Latin American rhythms. Her children apparently agree that "Dancing is good for the soul, for it takes your mind off your troubles"; they eagerly await her return from work each afternoon, when, for a half hour, the three of them rhumba, samba and tango to a varied stock of recordings.

To Mr. Galatti, Gina is "the perfect telephone girl for AFS." In her capacity as AFS's official greeter, he notes that "She has that wonderful quality of not letting anything mar her calm, cheerful poise. Impatience she deals with in a calm voice and the caller subsides quickly. If you tell her something is important, you know she knows and one never thinks of telling her twice. Efficient as she is, she still is a lovable, warm person whose smile is a delight and whose presence is a joy.