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Familiar Face To Byron Shoppers Retires After Five Decades

Jenna Dooley
Ogle County Board Chairman Kim Gouker (left) County Market employee Tom Whetsel (right)

It’s Tommy Whetsel Day in Ogle County. He may not be a familiar name, but he’s sure been a familiar face in the community.

His wake-up call today was a siren.

At 6:40 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 30th, Tom Whetsel was escorted to Byron's County Market in a fire truck. The flashy pick-up meant it wasn't just any other day on the job. It was in celebration of a career spanning three generations of co-workers.

Whetsel arrived on time, as has been his custom, and even took his daily 9:00 a.m. break in the back of the store.

But today he donned a red carnation and customers took a peek into the break room to see what was behind the commotion and the cake. Ogle County Board Chairman and former Super Valu co-worker Kim Gouker read a resolution designating the special day.

Credit Jenna Dooley
Tom Whetsel

A man of few words, but a hearty laugh, Whetsel says work was not a chore.

“I feel it in my heart every time I walk in here.”

As a toddler, he suffered a head injury that left him with permanent developmental issues.

Now just shy of 70, he has been clocking in at Byron businesses since his parents ran the Whetsel Shoe Store in the downtown.

At 16, he started at the Byron Super Valu grocery store. Former manager Dave Johnson said Whetsel was a model employee.

“He’s never had any enemies and if you asked him to do something, he wouldn’t try to sneak out of it. He would do it if he could. He’s a good boy.”

When the store closed in 1983, his reputation earned him a spot at Cacciatore's Food Mart. He stayed on after the store was sold to the County Market.

In retirement, Whetsel says he plans to care for his elderly parents, take long walks, and watch the Cubs.

Michelle Spittler has been working with Whetsel for four years.

“He’s really good. He knows more of the customers than any of us do. He knows them all and he knows exactly if they want paper or plastic, and he knows if they want help out [to their cars]. He already knows ahead of time.”

Lois Lapp says she’s been a customer for more than 30 years.

“That’s very true. And he knows where you want it put in the car and everything. He’s been a wonderful help.”

Store Director Don Roe says he will miss Whetsel’s work ethic and his attention to detail.

“My dad-- I had to take him to an eye doctor appointment this week and I had forgotten about it. Tommy actually reminded me that I had to be there at 11:30 and I would have missed that meeting if it wasn’t for Tommy. I said, 'Tommy, what am I going to do next week where you are not here to remind me about my scheduling?’ He knows everybody’s schedule without even looking. He’s really going to be missed.”

Ogle County Resolution

WHEREAS, the government of the County of Ogle, State of Illinois, has a responsibility of certain and specific duties for the good of the public welfare of its citizens, and such responsibility being vested with the County Board of the County of Ogle, and

WHEREAS, Tommy Whetsel is a lifelong resident of Ogle County, who at the young age of eighteen months, suffered a head injury while playing with neighborhood kids, being struck with a baseball bat, and leading to a major seizure that left him with permanent developmental issues, and

WHEREAS, Tommy learned at an early age, the importance of family love, friendship, and also hard work, as he helped his parents, Wilbur and Nina Whetsel, every day while growing up, in their downtown Byron business, the Whetsel Shoe Store, where he was a constant fixture greeting customers who came in to buy new shoes or have their own shoes repaired, and

WHEREAS, at the age of sixteen years old, Tommy started working for Ron and Delores Millard, initially as a trainee, in the Byron Super Valu grocery store, at a location that today houses a part of the Byron Museum, and

WHEREAS, Tommy worked five days a week, for eighteen more years, at the Byron Super Valu, until it closed in 1983, when he was sought out for his reputation of friendly and hard work, by Pete Cacciatore, who owned Cacciatore's Byron Food Mart, and with the job change, Tommy did not miss a single day of work, as he worked at the Super Valu on the last Friday it was open, and then started the following Monday at the Food Mart, and

WHEREAS, Tommy worked Monday through Friday, for the next thirty-three years at the same grocery store in Byron, first as Cacciatore's Food Mart, and then, after it was sold, as the County Market, being one of the most conscientious and hard-working employees during that time, tirelessly stocking shelves and sacking and carrying out customer's groceries, and being a friendly fixture who knew by name almost every regular customer who came into the store during those years, and

WHEREAS, due to his friendly and welcoming demeanor, Tommy has also served for many years, as a regular usher at his church, most recently every Sunday at the Red Brick Church in Stillman Valley, and

WHEREAS, Tommy will retire, on Friday, December 30, 2016, from his fifty-one years of bringing joy and helping others while employed in his grocery store work, and his employer, the County Market in Byron, will host an open house on that day, in order to celebrate his 33 years of dedicated work at that store location.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, on this 20th day of December, 2016, that the Ogle County Board recognizes and thanks Tommy Whetsel for his hard work and permanently friendly attitude, and his inspiration to three generations of co-workers, many young men and women who have learned their work ethic in their first job while working with Tommy, and for Tommy's love and inspiration to family and friends, and for everyone Tommy has ever met, who have then become new friends, and for the finestandard of citizenship exhibited to all residents of Ogle County.

And, THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Ogle County Board, in celebration of his work retirement, hereby designates that his last day of work, on Friday, December 30, 2016, shall be recognized as Tommy Whetsel Day, in all of Ogle County, Illinois, and encourages all residents of Ogle County to join in recognition and celebration of the career of this great and upstanding citizen of our County.

Jenna Dooley has spent her professional career in public radio. She is a graduate of Northern Illinois University and the Public Affairs Reporting Program at the University of Illinois - Springfield. She returned to Northern Public Radio in DeKalb after several years hosting Morning Edition at WUIS-FM in Springfield. She is a former "Newsfinder of the Year" from the Illinois Associated Press and recipient of NIU's Donald R. Grubb Journalism Alumni Award. She is an active member of the Illinois News Broadcasters Association and an adjunct instructor at NIU.