BY JOAN JANZEN
joanjanzen@yahoo.com

The Kindersley and District Co-op is bidding farewell to a long-time employee. Carol Burke is retiring on October 22, after dedicating forty-seven years of service at the Co-op food store.

“It will be forty-seven years to the day,” Carol said. “I started on October 23, 1972. I was going to retire in May, but then Covid was on, so I decided to stay put and help as much as I could.” As the summer months approached, “I thought I might as well wait until October.”

Carol gave her three weeks’ notice, with her final day of work being October 22. “That way, I’ll remember when I started and when I finished,” Carol concluded.

After all her years at the Co-op, Carol recalls many memorable events. “In 1976, the roof fell in, and we worked through that. Eleven months later, we had a fire in 1977,” she recalls. “I met David in June of 1977, and we got married in November of that year. That’s why I’m still here,” she chuckled.

Carol and David were married in the Catholic Church. “It snowed the night before the wedding, so some people couldn’t make it,” she recalled. Carol and David had two sons, Murray and Dwane, and Carol promised herself that she and David would provide finances for their kids’ secondary education. It was a promise they were able to fulfill.

Throughout the years, both Carol and David were active in the community. They are both long-time Legion members, and David was involved in umpiring and the fire department.

During her years as head cashier at the Co-op, Carol enjoyed interacting with the customers and employees. “In 1998, I probably trained 120 people,” she said. “There’s always new things to learn that you pass on to your employees. Before we moved into our new building, we were introduced to the new computers and scanning system. That was a big learning curve! You no longer had to price every can of soup.”

During Carol’s working career, many changes took place, including the opening of the new Co-op building on February 14, 2002.

“It is a great place to work, and I gained so many friendships in town. The people are awesome!” Carol noted.

As for what Carol will miss most, she says she’ll miss getting out with the public, especially now. “With this Covid thing, you have to get out there with people. It’s amazing how many people ask about David and I, and our family; we’re well known in the community,” she said.

Not only will Carol be leaving her position at the Co-op, but she and David plan to move to Melfort, Sask. after their house in Kindersley sells. “My son said we’ve got to move closer because who’s going to take care of you when you get older. Although it’s good to have lots of friends in town, it’s more comfortable when you have a family member close by. But we’re going to darn well miss everybody!” Carol said.

That feeling is mutual, as the regular customers who come through the Kindersley Co-op doors will miss seeing Carol and hearing her friendly greeting.

Lisa Klassen, Human Resources Manager, spoke on behalf of the Kindersley & District Co-op. “We would like to thank Carol for her years of dedicated service to this Co-op. You don’t find that type of dedication to an organization anymore, where you start your career at a young age like Carol did and stay with the organization for 47 years. She has been a part of the team that help build and establish this Co-op, and has seen the changes and growth over the years.”

“We have a lot of staff that make the Co-op a long term career within this community, and I think it also goes to show the strong team environment we have here and the dedication of our team members to making the Kindersley & District Co-op successful. Congratulations Carol! We wish you all the best in the next chapter!”