33 YEARS OF SERVICE

Brookshire Brothers hosts retirement party

Giving 33 years of your life to a single cause requires a lot of dedication and loyalty, two traits that define longtime Brookshire Brothers employee Philip Schmidt.

Last Wednesday Nov. 20, the grocery store chain’s Columbus location held a retirement party for Schmidt, who worked as an employee there for the past 33 years.

Current and former coworkers of Schmidt’s throughout his more than three-decade long career at the store remarked his time there through celebration, coming together to eat lunch and reminisce on memories made at the store.

Schmidt has worked at the location since his senior year in high school, reflecting on his 33 years at the store and the love he has built for his former job, even joking that his car drove him to work and not the other way around.

“I said my car didn’t know any other place to stop,” said Schmidt. “It drove me to work. I made it a habit to come here and work at Brookshire Brothers and give my best, working at it like it was my own business. I really enjoyed working here. I have people that I met throughout the years and customers were always happy to see me.”

There was a moment during his 33 years at Brookshire Brothers where he felt it might be time to make a change and leave the job for good, following a procedure he underwent. The constant questioning of why he was no longer there by customers was enough to make Schmidt realize he was missed by customers and decided to go back.

“I was at a point in my life when I was deciding whether I should change jobs because the job that I had required a lot of lifting,” said Schmidt. “I had surgery and was thinking about taking another position. On the other hand, I got to thinking because people kept asking my mom “when am I coming back to work?” “When am I coming back to Brookshire Brothers?” I decided this is where I needed to be. This is my home.”

And his home he made it. Over the course of his 33 years there, Schmidt became a household name at the Columbus Brookshire Brothers to both customers and coworkers, all of whom had the same words to describe Schmidt, “friendly, caring and dedicated.”

“He is loyal, committed, devoted, dependable and dedicated,” said Barbara Coleman Waddle, a former coworker of Schmidt’s. “I will always cherish our years of working together. Trips to the corporate office as well as his love and friendship.”

“His humor and warm smile were a constant highlight of my day whenever we spoke,” said Dustin Mayo, another former coworker of Schmidt’s. “He wi l l be deeply missed at the store.”

“Philip does not know a stranger,” said Emily Guidry-Lewis, another former coworker of Schmidt’s. “He is friendly to everyone and will go the extra mile for customers.”

Schmidt said his unwavering dedication to his job was driven by his faith in God, who he worked to glorify in everything he did in life, including working at Brookshire Brothers.

“Everything I do, I do for the glory of God,” said Schmidt. “You have to glorify God. I’ve been a servant to God. No matter what you do in life, if you’re custodian, if you’re sweep ditches or clean highways, whatever you do, it’s all for the glory of God. Everything is for God. You’re doing God’s work here on Earth. And that’s, that’s what counts. That’s what matters.”

The one part of the job that Schmidt will miss the most given his bubbly personality is interacting with his coworkers and customers every day, whether it be talking by the coffee machine in the backroom or chatting with customers and kids who’d recognize him from the local Vacation Bible School.

“Back here, we get coffee, drink and talk,” said Schmidt. “The customers that come in is what I’ll probably miss the most, just chatting with them and giving them a hard time. Seeing the kids that I know through Vacation Bible School that come here and know me, and they say, “hey, there’s that man from Vacation Bible School.” I’ll miss that because I love kids, just interacting with children, the community and everything.”

Schmidt says his plans for retirement will be full of his servitude to God and work around the church, with his sights set on a non-profit mission trip to Nigeria in the next year.

“With retirement, I will continue to serve God. I will work with the church more, do things around the church, and I will work with a non-profit that I’m part of, and somewhere along the line, we’ll be making a trip to Nigeria next year sometime. I’ll continue to work with the church and serve God.”