Martha Campiotti has spent her 50-year career looking out for people. And it was a similar kindness she received from others that helped land her at Sandia in the first place.

“Sandia was my first job — my one and only job,” said Martha, an office management assistant.

As Martha prepares to retire on Oct. 16, she fondly recalls many memories and what led to her path at Sandia.

In high school, Martha’s teacher nominated her for a scholarship to a business college in Hayward, California. Martha earned a full-ride scholarship through business school. For her final assignment, Martha was required to interview at a company and report back to the class. A college director connected Martha with Sandia for an interview that launched her long and fulfilling career. A couple months later, in August 1974, Martha kickstarted her career as a trainee in the Personnel and Industrial Relations department.

“I got a Q clearance the first day,” Martha said. “I was totally excited.”

She became a “floater” secretary, serving as a typist in the Technical Writing division, transcribing handwritten documents and adapting writing styles for reports.

“I wore many hats in the floater pool,” she said. “I worked in organizations that needed a substitute for a day of the week or for a few months while people went on maternity leave.”

Martha also served as the “copy girl” for the vice president’s secretary at the time, which meant standing in line at the only copier in each building to make copies. But typewriters and lone copy machines weren’t the only things of the time in the 1970s.

“Sandia had a dress code, especially if you sat in ‘Oak Row,’ in the executive roles,” Martha said. “Dresses and pantyhose were the attire, and your hair had to be wafted, not messy. You had to look the part.”

Forging forward through friendships

In 1976, Martha was working in the Environmental Test Division, where she navigated the transition from typewriters to early computers. While her boss advised Martha to “leave computing to the engineers,” the engineers encouraged her to explore the new technology and provided her with a computer for training.

“My manager was very surprised they would do something like that,” Martha said. “But it exposed me to learn computers, and I thought it was pretty fun and easy.”

Connecting with the workforce members she supported, as well as others in her building and around the California site, Martha learned both career and life skills.

“I’ve had some unbelievable staff,” she said. “They even taught me how to drive a stick shift when I needed to buy a car. I even had a lesson from one of the staff on one of those gas golf carts at the time, and other staff were lined up in the windows watching. They’re pretty much like family.”

Martha became known for hosting potlucks and holiday parties on-site and center-wide off-site pig roast gatherings at Del Valle Regional Park in Livermore. One coworker who Martha said she’s been “stuck at the hip” with for more than 20 years is Senior Management Assistant Gigi deCastro.

“Martha is very welcoming and very helpful to her staff and her managers,” Gigi said. “She tries to make work fun and not so serious all the time. But when it comes to the actual work, she digs right in and is very helpful. Her customer service skills are top-notch.”

In 1975, Martha met her husband, an electronic engineer named Rich, at Sandia. Rich and Martha married in 1981.

“He’s excited about me coming home finally,” Martha said of her upcoming retirement.

When the couple welcomed their first daughter in 1984, Martha took a six-month maternity leave. She returned to work supporting the Experimental Solid Mechanics department and the Structural Mechanics division. While she still took dictation during meetings, Martha’s tasks included sewing prototype parachutes, further demonstrating her willingness to contribute where needed.

Martha’s drive led to her being in labor with her second daughter while finishing a project before giving birth in 1988. “I had an assignment that only I knew what needed to be done to get it completed, so I went to work to finish it,” she said. “The labor pains were probably a few minutes apart, and people were telling me to stop running around and to leave for the hospital. There was a nurse from the Sandia medical clinic standing in the doorway, ready. And my department manager was smoking — which was allowed in the building — because he was nervous.”

Eventually, her coworkers called Rich to take her to the hospital.

“People kept stopping by, and I said I needed to finish what I was doing, then I could leave,” Martha said. “I hate to leave things undone.”

Life at the Labs

For more than 36 years, Martha volunteered with the DOE Regional Science Bowl. She traveled to Washington, D.C., for the National Science Bowl multiple times as a volunteer coordinator. She also played a pivotal role in Sandia’s participation in the former Expanding Your Horizons events in the Tri-Valley and in San Joaquin County for 28 years.

“I was trying to push youth to try something that they wouldn’t get the opportunity for otherwise,” Martha said.

She served as chair of the Asian Pacific Leadership Committee for 12 years and taught hula dancing and line dancing to fellow Sandians.

In 1990, Martha and her center colleagues competed in a directorate challenge using recycled aluminum cans. Their Eye-Full Tower was built as part of a contest to promote the Livermore Employee Assistance Plan, a charity drive to raise money for human service organizations. The objective was to build something tall within a time limit, and Martha’s team took first place.

In 1993, she was involved in a Sandia initiative called “Leadership is Everyone’s Business” that aimed to empower the workforce to advocate for themselves through decision-making and critical thinking. The initiative earned a President’s Quality Award.

“It’s going to be tough not having her here anymore,” Gigi said. “She takes care of people, and that says a lot.”

Conferences and connections

Recently, Martha was able to attend Sandia’s Administrative Professional Extravaganza this past April in Albuquerque, the first event of its kind where representatives came from all sites.

During the event, about 400 administrative professionals lined up around the room, ordering themselves by the most years with Sandia.

“I was at the very end,” Martha said. “It was very funny. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to be the center of attention here.’”

Through her half century working at Sandia, Martha has seen many changes — buildings added, programs started — but it’s the people who’ve made the biggest impact for her.

“I have grown up with some of these people, and now I know their children,” Martha said. “They have supported me in both good and tough times. It’s going to be hard to leave Sandia. But it doesn’t mean it’s the end. My hope is that I stay connected with as many people as I can, and hopefully they’ll do the same with me.”