There have been a lot of changes in Stratford over the last four decades. Walmart came, and Stratford Central Secondary School went. The city has had four mayors over that span. The Royal Canadian Legion moved across town, and the Tom Patterson Theatre went away and came back better than before.
What hasn’t changed since May 1984? Valerie Roth’s smiling face greeting customers as they walk into Peavey Mart.
Roth just celebrated 40 years on the job this week, with coworkers and customers alike getting the chance to wish her well and thank her for the service she’s given over the years. She first went to work for the store when it was still called TSC and located across the parking lot from its current location. It wasn’t a great story back then, but Roth said it’s worked out pretty well.
“I had been farming and we were forced to sell – the 1980s wasn’t a great time for farmers,” she said. “The farm was sold off the last week of April that year, and I started working at TSC the first week in May. I was just one of two cashiers back then, and this was back in the day when we hand-wrote all of our invoices.”
She happened to be in the store buying tractor bolts when she heard they might be hiring. The manager heard that she’d asked about a job application before exiting the store and he convinced her to come back in and apply. She’d worked at the Shakespeare Feed Mill a few times over the years, but landing at TSC was, in her words, a pretty lucky break.
“I knew a lot of people from working at the feed mill over the years, and you get to know a lot of people when you’re a farmer. I’d say that I’ve known around 75 percent of the customers I’ve had over the years, one way or another,” she said. “I didn’t always know them by name, but I knew their faces. And the people have been the best part about this job.”
Roth has worked for eight different managers, including the current one Olivia Jewells. It was Roth that originally hired Jewells back in 2006 to be a cashier, and that marked the beginning of a kind of apprenticeship: Jewells would fill in for Roth while she was off after knee surgery, and then later step in to take over as store manager. She credits Roth for imparting a lot of her knowledge to her and helping make her job that much easier and enjoyable.
“Valerie is just a wealth of knowledge, and she’s been a mentor in so many ways,” Jewells said. “She knows the farmer’s verbiage so well, knowing what it is they’re looking for. But the way she deals with people is amazing. She’s just so giving and loyal to the store. We have some staff here that call her ‘Gramma’.”
Roth’s loyalty hasn’t gone unnoticed by Peavey’s head office, as they gave her a gold pin with a diamond and ruby in it to mark her special anniversary. Jewells said that she rubs off on the people around her in the best ways, and Roth feels it’s been a two-way street.
“My father, Don McMillan, passed away back in February, and the people here were there to support me just like a family would,” she said. “That’s been the best part about being here for as long as I have: the people I spend my days with are unique and we’re a family. I’ve always felt really supported here.”
As for the future and the possibility of seeing yet another new mayor take office while still welcoming people through the door at Peavey Mart?
“As long as I’m still an asset, I want to be here,” she said.
