Hallmark does not make congratulatory cards for 68 years of work with the same employer, but if it did, Margaret Powers might receive one this week.
And there is a good chance she would check the back to ensure it was a Hallmark card. She said she truly believes in the company’s slogan, which asserts that Hallmark cards are sent “when you care enough to send the very best.”
Powers, of Walkersville, has been a “Hallmark gal” at the Walkers Village Way branch of CVS Pharmacy since the early 1990s, when it was still part of the now-defunct Peoples Drug chain. Before that, she had worked as a secretary for the district manager since April 24, 1944. She began when she was just 22 years old. This past September, she turned 90.
“I rather enjoy doing the cards,” Powers said Monday. She officially retired from her secretarial position in 1991, but started back part time about a week later.
Her duties include straightening up displaced cards and envelopes, reordering out-of-stock items, setting up displays and putting out new merchandise for holidays or special seasons, such as Mother’s Day or graduation.
“I feel like I do a fairly good job with it,” she said. “And it’s a good feeling when you’ve felt like you’ve helped somebody find what they really wanted.”
Powers went back to work after retirement to stay busy, she said.
“I think being busy is good for a person’s health.”
She likes being able to come into the store and complete her tasks at her own convenience.
“There aren’t too many jobs that are that flexible,” she said.
Setting her own six-hour-a-week schedule allows her time for hobbies, which include reading, gardening, quilting and volunteering at the town food bank and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.
“I feel that volunteering is very important for a person,” she said.
Powers wants to continue working and volunteering for as long as her health allows.
Her late mother lived to see her 100th birthday, she said, so that might be quite some time yet.
