Published: June 18, 2008 03:52 pm            

Marsh manager retires

Boone Village Marsh Store Manager Ralph Stevenson of Terhune is the last of a dying breed. At least that is what many Marsh shoppers said at Stevenson’s retirement open house Thursday, June 12.

“He was always on the job and did what needed to be done — even sacking,” Zionsville resident and Marsh shopper Ed Kauraker said.

Those who came to wish him well — Marsh employees and customers, family and friends — all described Stevenson as customer-oriented, saying there are not many people like him anymore in the service industry.

Stevenson, 62, retired after 20 years of service to the Boone Village Marsh. He started his career in the grocery business in 1962 when he was a 16-year-old boy working in the meat room at the Standard grocery store in Noblesville. He cleaned up the meat room at night and hauled 70-pound boxes packed with ice and chickens. One of his jobs was to clean and package the frozen chickens for sale, Stevenson said. He also remembers unloading a “dead load” of dry goods on hot days. Getting in the hot truck to put the goods on the conveyer belt was the job all of the grocery boys tried to avoid; they flipped a coin to decide who had to take the dreaded job. Things were different then — stores were closed on Sundays and milk came in glass jugs, he said.

Even as the grocery business changed, Stevenson continued to work in grocery stores. He managed 18 stores with four different companies. His first job as a store manager was with National Tea Co. at age 23, and then with the A & P. He said he chose to make grocery stores his career when a friend said to him, “People always gotta eat, so it’s a good business to be in.”

Stevenson came to the Boone Village Marsh — his favorite store — in 1989. He described the Zionsville store “kinda like ‘Cheers’” because it is a place where everybody knows your name, he said. He recalled how the late Herman Albers of Zionsville, who used to own the Rolls Royce dealership, came in to Marsh every Sunday morning for fresh radishes and orange juice. “He always had a joke for me,” Stevenson said. And then there was the late Henry Hoover of Zionsville who he said was like a father to him. “He was always teasin’ me about something,” he said. Stevenson described Zionsville as a quaint little Village with a lot of good people — “like a big family.” And that family will miss him, especially those customers used to calling him to ask how to cook a turkey or what ingredients they need for a recipe.

“For my dad, customer service has always been No. 1,” daughter Valerie Roberts of Sheridan said. She added that her dad loves the Zionsville community and always relished being part of the Zionsville Fall Festival Parade for Marsh.

While it may be hard for some customers and co-workers to let go of Stevenson, he said he was ready to retire, although not completely. Stevenson, an avid gardener, will work in the gardening department of Home Depot in Noblesville three days a week. But he will slow things down and go fishing and spend time with his grandkids, he said. And maybe cook and clean for his wife.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.