Over 450 employees and guests gathered at The College of Wooster Lowry Center on March 17 to celebrate The Wooster Brush Company’s annual service awards. Bill Fagert, company president, and Keith Hancock, vice president of production, presented the tributes. Mike Palmer, human resource manager, served as master of ceremonies. Jim Smith gave the invocation.
Very fitting of the St. Patrick’s Day event, the evening’s theme was “Great Employees are Like Four Leaf Clovers — Hard to Find and Lucky to Have.” Palmer said, “When we were coming up with this year’s theme, it was honestly an easy sell. I know, as our H.R. manager, that great employees aren’t always easy to find; we’re lucky to have so many great people in the Wooster Brush family.”
Wooster Brush honored 74 employees with traditional milestone anniversaries of 15, 20, 25, 30, 40 and 45 years at the annual service awards banquet. Also, 2018 is the first time in company history that Wooster Brush also will honor an additional 113 employees (who will be recognized separately) for their 1-, 5- and 10-year anniversaries.
Twenty-five years of service is a special milestone at The Wooster Brush Company. Walter A. Reed and Trena L. Sheppard are this year’s inductees to Wooster Brush’s prestigious 25-year club. These two new members bring Wooster’s active 25-year club member count to 135; the current number of retired 25-year club members is 174.
As special thanks, both of those employees received an engraved watch personally chosen by the recipient, a silver tie tack or necklace, an engraved paintbrush in a display case, a personalized paint roller, a certificate for a photo-portrait and a stadium blanket woven with the 25-year emblem.
Many people may find it difficult to imagine working for the same company for 45 years, but on Saturday, Wooster Brush paid tribute to Jon Bollinger and Deb Shearer for reaching such a historic milestone.
Eight recipients received 40-year awards on Saturday, including Judy Bates, Jennifer Edwards, Bob Huxley, Pam Jones, Craig Leighty, Anita Polen, Cindy Ringler and Becky Spiker.
Celebrating 30 years of service on Saturday night were Linda Badertscher, Mark Bates, Candy Brown, Mike Humrichouser, Laura Myatt, Kathy Randall, Linda Riggs, Wilma Troyer and Steve Workman.
Wooster Brush’s 20 years of service awardees were Barb Bischoff, Linda Cutting, Lynne Derr, Lee Dillon, Jana Dixon, Chris Fair, Ken Field, Bob Hart, Jerelyn Hofstetter, Ed Holt, Brian Klett, Mike McIntire, Marsha Moniger, Patty Mumaw, Steve Riley, Larry Schwartz, Cheryl Steinbauer and Crystal Zuercher.
Finally, a group of 35 people were acknowledged for their Wooster Brush milestone of 15 years of service: Jennifer Anderson, Bill Brown, Ron Brown, Sheree Brownson, Jim Byrne, Chris Clow, Lisa Drown, Marilyn Everett, Tony Giauque, Scott Hahn, Zeb Hall, Amy Harper, Barb Hemperly, Josh Hershberger, Pat Jaquet, Jennie Jeffries, Scott Kantenwein, John Kaufman, Shannon Kaufman, Clint Kelly, Ea Kidd, Laurie McCune, Lisa McMillen, John Mendez, Rhonda Pasquariello, Bob Reed, Sharon Rucker, Traci Rush, Kevin Schmid, Lyden Smith, Paula Smith, Dave Steinbach, Rob Tasker, Luanne Waggoner and Keith Whitman.
Roughly 620 people are currently employees of The Wooster Brush Company. Because of service records like these, the average length of service for all employees is currently 14 years.
