Wise Co honors Lankford on retirement

Normadene Lankford visits with Mike Yon (left) and Charles Morrisett during her retirement reception Tuesday at the Wise Company. Lankford has worked in the building since she was 24 years old, first for Brown Shoe and later for Wise.
(Times photo/Tim Blair)

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Lankford actually also pre-dates the current occupants of the building, as she spent 33 years sewing for Brown Shoe Company prior to that company closing the doors of its operation. In the mid-1980's she was hired at Wise and has worked for that company since.

Tuesday morning co-workers, family and friends surprised Lankford with a break-time reception to honor her on her retirement. Wednesday was scheduled to be her last day and her retirement will become official Friday.

She will mark her 80th birthday Saturday, but should find that she has a little more time on her hands than before.

Lankford first went to work for Brown Shoe when she was 24 years old and remained with the company until it closed. When the Wise Company moved into the building, she returned to work and has been on the job the last 22 years.

She noted that all the time she spent at both companies has been in the sewing department. adding that when she worked for Brown Shoe, she had the job of making the model shoes for the company, a job usually reserved for the most experienced.

Her plans for retirement are to "spend a little more time with the ladies from the church, and of course I'll continue to sew," she noted. When asked how he would replace such an employee, factory manager Mike Yon observed, "You can't replace her. They don't make them like that anymore."