The "My Job Is Now Complete!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just pulled out of the parking lot at Grebinger Gallery in Neffsville, Pennsylvania for perhaps the last time as an employee.  I have finally decided it was time to retire...for good!  After working for 65 years, my work meter has expired.  My first job began when I was 12 years old when my Grandpap took me to Roots Market, a farmer's market near East Petersburg, Pennsylvania.  We visited the small animal auction where he bid on a box of a dozen or so guinea pigs for me.  Being that he was the only bidder, I came home with the guinea pigs.  Mom and dad loved the fact that I was now gong to raise guinea pigs in the backyard...Not!  Well, over the years I made quite a bit of money while raising and selling the guinea pigs to pet stores as well neighborhood friends.  At the age of 16, I sold the business to my 70 year old next door neighbor and began a job at the local Acme grocery store stocking shelves and running the cash register.  Wasn't long before I bought my first car to be used as transportation to work, school and finally college.  Did quit the job in my Junior year of college when I got a job at a rental business for a year or so before I began my career in teaching.  Spent the next 33 years as an Industrial Arts teacher while doing a variety of jobs during the summer months when I wasn't teaching or going back to college to gain more credits.  After retiring from teaching in 1999 I began a job at Grebinger Gallery in nearby Neffsville, Pennsylvania.  The owner and operator of the framing gallery was Keith Grebinger whom I had as a student in my classes in high school.  I went the next 22 years working part-time at the gallery and recently, after multiple problems with my back, decided it was time to call it quits.  I figured after working 65 years, it was finally time to call it quits.  I can now spend more time with my wife and friends as well as perhaps resume my one-time hobby of stained glass once again.  

The final framed piece of artwork that I did for Keith (on left) at Grebinger Gallery

Also will give my wife and I more time for traveling to visit family as well as a few of our favorite islands in the Caribbean.  And, it will also give us a chance to prepare for moving to a smaller home or perhaps a move to a retirement community where we can live with people who also no longer work!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.