In Ottawa County in the 1960's, when women of the baby boomer era were in school and deciding what they wanted to be when they grew up, the most common career path was housewife or farm wife. If a woman wanted to or needed to work outside the home, perhaps until she married and started a family, or if she ended up as an "old maid", jobs as secretary or maid or waitress or beautician or sales clerk were options. If she did well in school, saved enough of her babysitting money and if her parents were forward-thinking and financially able to provide for college, she might consider becoming a teacher or nurse. Women were becoming more common as bank tellers and there were a few women in real estate, including Ann Bolte, matriarch of Bolte Real Estate. Once a woman settled into a job, she tended to stay in that job for life. Women seldom referred to a job as a career.