Fruit, veggies and Frances: Slayton woman, 93, retires for the second time

For the past 28 years, Frances Guild has worked full-time, driving across town to the grocery store by 7:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, and even working Saturdays and Sundays to keep the produce display filled and enticing for customers.

While this certainly isn’t unusual for a produce manager, consider that Frances will be 94 years old in March.

She officially retired from Jim’s Market on New Year’s Day, although “officially” is a relative term.

“I said when I get my knee kind of fixed, I can come and help out,” she quipped.

She’s been limping along, literally, for a while now — her knees aching after a combined 58 years of walking and working on concrete floors. Cortisone shots have helped her along, but they no longer seem to take the pain away.

And so, Frances worked her last day on Jan. 1, stepping out the door of Jim’s Market and into retirement — again.

Her first retirement came in 1990 when, at age 65, Frances ended a 30-year career in the produce department at Hy-Vee in Worthington.

It was in 1960, after her five children were grown, that Frances secured a job at Swanson’s grocery store in downtown Worthington. Sterling Drug stands on the site now.

“The neighbor lady said they needed help at Swanson’s,” Frances recalled. “I applied and they needed help doing produce. In those days, you did all the sacking. We put potatoes in machines and sacked everything … apples, oranges, we had to wrap lettuce and sack the celery.

“It was a lot more work then than it is now,” she added. “Now a lot of the stuff comes in packaged.”

The variety of produce has also changed considerably. In the 1960s, Frances said the apple varieties included red delicious, golden delicious, Winesaps and Romes. Today, more than half a dozen varieties are typically found in the produce aisle.

When Hy-Vee purchased Swanson’s, Frances stayed in the produce department, moving with the business after a new Hy-Vee store was built at the Northland Mall.

“I never thought about working in a different department,” she said. “(Produce) was a challenge for me. I loved working with it.”

In fact, she excelled at it. In 1977, Frances earned distinction of managing the Produce Department of the Month in 10 of the 12 months. Jerry Van Hooser was the Hy-Vee store manager at the time.

“He always said you can’t sell holes,” she recalled. “You had to keep the produce display full, attractive — like I want it to be.”

Later on, after the Van Hoosers left Worthington, they returned for a visit. It was then that Jerry told Frances she was the best produce manager he’d ever worked with.

“That was kind of nice,” she beamed.

When she retired from Hy-Vee in 1990 and moved to Slayton, Frances maintained her connection with the Worthington store by helping with fruit baskets and the garden center as needed. She made the commute until about six years ago.

“I knew produce inside out and upside down,” Frances said. She still does.

When she moved to Slayton to be closer to family, she thought she’d keep busy doing things around the house, but watching TV and doing embroidery to pass the hours didn’t carry great appeal for the spry retiree.

“My granddaughter’s husband worked at Jim’s Market — it was Nordin’s SuperValu at that time — and he asked me to do demos,” Frances shared. “It wasn’t long and they needed help in produce.”

She was promoted to produce manager at Jim’s Market six years ago — at age 87.

Looking back on her long career, Frances said she’s had a wonderful job.

“I love the variety, I love the color, I love everything about it. I love to eat bananas,” she said with a laugh. “Ever since I’ve been in produce, I eat a banana a day.

“I eat my vegetables — some of them, not all of them.”

Now that she’s retired a second time, Frances is looking forward to her family’s annual fishing trip in July. She rides the bus to the casino once a week with her sister and is busily embroidering baby quilts for a couple of great-great-grandchildren on the way.