A few Townsend Leather partners got together today, for a meaningful and small celebration, in honor of a veteran worker who will be retiring in just a few days.

As someone who is usually prone to avoiding the spotlight, it was great to be able to honor John in front of a group of his peers for his work and dedication.   We had to organize everything in secret, he may not have shown up if he had known about it! :)

We were all able to spend some time talking about what he will spend his time on during retirement and hear some accounts of what it was like, back in earlier days at Townsend.  John has a wealth of wisdom that he has been doling out to some young guns that have had the privilege of working with him.

He has experience in a variety of departments and has been able to excel at each of them, even when he was coming to them “blind”!  He shared a story from his earliest days here, about how a manager asked him, “Do you know how to run this thing?” referring to a highly specialized leather machine.  John responded “yeah” with confidence, so he was left to run it by himself.  But he let us know, he actually didn’t even know what the thing was, he’d never even seen one before!  But with his determination, talent, and dedication John figured it out in no time.

John has been a hardworking dedicated fixture in the Townsend landscape for years and it will be hard to see him go, but he is more than deserving of some time to spend on his other interests.

We got together for a low key, John-style lunch with pizza and cake, and some meaningful sentiments shared about John’s time at Townsend and the lasting impact he has made.

And some of his team worked together to create a truly stunning retirement gift…

His own miniature toggle board, complete with a mini hide and golden toggles!

This gift was hand crafted with expert craftsmanship and thoughtful attention to detail – which is a perfect way to honor the work and personality of John.

 

Townsend is honored to have so many incredible partners, like John, on our team and we wish him the best of luck, joy, and health in this new chapter of his life.