Janet Green

My name now is Jan Wilson. I guess I am first and foremost a wife and mother and now live in Canberra with my second husband (of 37 years so you can see the first marriage was a rather brief affair). It was however long enough for me to have two daughters by my first marriage and later a son by my second; 6 grandchildren (4 boys, 2 girls ranging from 8 to 26) and now a great grandmother. Probably a class first!

The grandchildren are our daughters children, our son is single and likes it that way.

I fell in and out of different jobs - market research, insurance, accountancy, public service entry testing etc between bringing up my children until 1982 when I started working at the Australian National Botanic Gardens. I originally went for a week to help out a friend in a recruitment job who was desperately searching for someone old enough to know how to work an old fashioned plug and key switchboard.

From this week grew a job that became more of a passion than a career until I retired a couple of years ago. Like so many old codgers from scientific institutions I cannot keep away and still go to work at least once a week just to "keep my hand in". Since retirement, my 88 year old mother has moved in with us so my time at the Gardens has become somewhat limited.

If you would like to know more about this passion there is a very flattering article written on my retirement by my supervisor, who is also one of my best friends at www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/herbnews/cpbrnews58.html

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