Walt turned 98 last month. He’s the oldest employee at Goble Properties. Yes, he really is on our payroll, and he really does show up for work. Not a full forty hours a week, but he’s still on call whenever we need an old school solution to a problem.
My father hired Walt nearly 40-years ago to do some maintenance work. Nobody has worked harder for the family company since then. And nobody knows how to fix things — anything — like Walt.
The hardest I ever worked was the summer I poured concrete with Walt at our family ranch. We’d start at 6 AM and hand mix all the concrete, then use wheel barrels to pour it in place. Eight hours later I’d collapse, but Walt would still be going strong. I was 14 and he was 60 that summer. You’d think he would be slowing down by then, but he worked me to exhaustion every day. Walt seemed to enjoy working with me; I earned my stripes that summer and we’ve been close every since. He is still a Grandpa figure in my life.
Walt likes to tease me that he still has more hair than I do.
That’s not to say we haven’t had our differences. Walt has earned the right to be a stubborn old mule, and as a boss there are times I’ve had to make tough decisions. But we have always respected each other. Or rather, I’ve always respected him, and he’s been willing to tolerate the young punk who runs the company. It’s been a good relationship.
Walt is slowing down these days. He sleeps more, takes longer breaks, and minor injuries take longer to heal. But he still drives to lunch at the Senior Center and still loves to hit the casinos for a weekend of fun. I can almost always find him in his trailer watching an old cowboy movie late into the night.
A junkyard management maxim is that you always respect the hard worker. More specifically, you respect the hard worker who takes pride in work. Walt is a model of that in more ways that I could ever list in a short blog post.
You know how there are a few people in your life who are a silent blessing? They fly below the radar of life, but you can’t imagine life without them. Walt is like that for me. I’m thankful for what he has taught me.