A Success in Her Fields : Anaheim Stadium Secretary Has Juggled Office, Home Duties

After a decade as secretary to the manager of Anaheim Stadium, Priscilla Nielsen has become a coach of sorts.

To younger, less-experienced secretaries in the office, Priscilla, 58, offers advice, and she leads by example.

“She is very tactful,” said Pam Harding, one of the other secretaries who gets an occasional word of counsel from Nielsen.

As a secretary from the old school, Nielsen learned shorthand and speed typing in the conventional way. But she attributes most of her success on the job to common sense and the practical experience she gained from bringing up her family.

“After managing a household, a long-term marriage and raising four children, I could run General Motors,” Nielsen said. “There may be women out there who don’t think they are accomplishing something, but they are.”

Nielsen also credits her boss, stadium Manager Greg Smith, for having a leadership style that encourages her to take the initiative. She adheres, though, to the secretarial credo of always making the boss look good. “He is the one out in the limelight,” she said.

In the office, Nielsen is known as a stickler for correct spelling and good grammar in an age when language skills are often de-emphasized.

“Don’t trust that spell checker all the time,” she said, a firm believer that the computer program that automatically flags misspelled words will never quite replace a dictionary. And her advice to those who need to polish their language skills? Read more books.

Working in the stadium--home to the Rams professional football team and the Angels major league baseball team--brings Smith in contact with everyone from concert promoters to team owners. Having to juggle all the details flowing into the manager of a 64,593-seat stadium makes for a difficult job.

But it has definite advantages too. For one, the staff can occasionally sneak out to watch bits of a close game in progress.

Nielsen said she hardly leaves the office, though. She prefers to watch the big plays during day games on the TV monitor in her office--where she can stay with her team.