DELPHOS, OH (WLIO) - Westrich Furniture in Delphos is celebrating a special anniversary for one long-time employee. Our Katie Honigford caught up with him and heard more about his 7-decade-long career.
Things have changed quite a bit at Westrich Furniture in Delphos over the last 70 years, but there's one thing — or in this case, one person — that has remained a constant after all that time.
Jim Mesker has been working for the company since 1952 and is emotional thinking back on how he got his start at Westrich's all those years ago.
“One of my first jobs was when I was in the eighth grade, we gave out little circulars - now everybody does it - we had paint circulars, and I delivered them to every house in Delphos,” Mesker said. “Mel Westridge hired me and I washed the windows.”
Since then, Jim has made his way up to appliance manager, and to celebrate those seven decades with them, Westrich surprised Jim with a special sign and a thank you for all the hard work, reaching a milestone that you don't see every day.
“To come to work and do what he’s done for 70 years, I just think that from a national standpoint, there’s not many people that have done this,” said Jack Westrich, president of Westrich Furniture and Appliances. “It’s nice to have a 50 year anniversary - it’s amazing to have a 70 year anniversary.”
Jim says that there's a lot that he loves about working for Westrich, especially getting to see so many people, and Westrich says that they love Jim right back.
“I buy all the appliances and we sell them back here, and we have a lot of people come in and buy appliances from us. I just enjoy waiting on people,” said Mesker. “I’ve met a lot of people, I raised a family, and I just enjoy it.”
“We talk about family with everybody and he’s on top right now; he’s the oldest one here, so he’s definitely the father of what we do, and he’s family, no doubt about it,” said Westrich.
