After 83 years of work, Bill Hansen, 97, is retiring.
Monday is the Haddon Township, NJ resident's last day at Hutchinson Plumbing Heating Cooling, the Cherry Hill firm where he's the permit coordinator. Hansen has delivered and picked up applications and work permits issued by municipalities all over South Jersey for decades; read the 2012 column I wrote about him here.
"This is the finale," says Hansen, whose first job was on a horse-drawn Jersey City milk wagon at age 14. He later became a truck driver, shipyard worker, and supervisor of a home heating oil sales force. "I've never had a job I didn't enjoy," he says.
"I've worked long enough," adds the father of two, grandfather of six, and great-grandfather of seven, who wants to spend more time with his family. He credits his longevity to his wife, Dorothy, who died in 2005. "She was a good woman," he says. "We were married for 67 years."
Hansen intends to stay active with the Haddonfield Lions Club and Christ the King Church (he's a Eucharistic minister there). He'll also "go the casino once in a while" in Atlantic City.
Fred Hutchinson, company president, says Hansen helped nurture a "family culture" in the workplace.
"We are privileged to have...a hardworking, dedicated employee like Bill Hansen," he says in a statement. "The relationships he developed over the years with all the South Jersey municipalities was very special."
Says Voorhees Township construction office employee Wendy Flite, "we wish Bill all the best and hope he knows how greatly he will be missed by all of us!"
--KEVIN RIORDAN