From the Columbus Dispatch [Columnist - Joe Blundo]:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2009/12/31/1A_BLUN31_--_dec._31.ART_ART_12-31-09_D1_DOG1VIC.html
"Bill told me I never have to turn in my security badge," Elaine Miseta said with a hint of pride.
After all, if you can't be trusted after 67 years at a company, at what point can you be trusted?
Miseta officially retired yesterday -- on her 88th birthday -- from her job as an administrative assistant at the White Castle corporate headquarters. Her first day was June 8, 1942.
The Bill who let her keep her security badge is Bill Ingram, president and chief executive officer. She also served his father, Edgar, and his grandfather E.W. "Billy" Ingram, founder of the restaurant chain famous for its little hamburgers.
Miseta was at the company eight years before the latest president was born. They've always been on a first-name basis, given that he was a toddler when they met.
"It's great to have someone who has that historic knowledge," said Ingram, 59. "She's very organized and methodical, and remembers everything."
Miseta -- who was born near Montpelier, a village in the northwest corner of the state -- moved to Columbus to take a job that her father helped her get with what was then called the Ohio Bureau of Unemployment.
She hated it.
"So I transferred to the highway department," she said, "and that was just as bad."
Miseta found her place when she walked into the White Castle headquarters, 555 W. Goodale St., to drop off an application and found it buzzing with activity.
"I thought, 'This is for me.' "
She started in the stenographer's pool but wound up serving as the executive secretary to the company leaders.
Until recently, callers had to get past her to reach Ingram.
"They want to talk to Mr. Ingram," she said. "Everybody does. If they have a hangnail, they want to talk to Mr. Ingram. But he doesn't do hangnails."
Miseta had a routine: She would arise at 5 a.m., dress in a suit (don't get her started on "business casual") and be in the office by 6:15. By the time the phones started ringing about 9 a.m., she had accomplished a lot. She would leave for home in Upper Arlington about 4 p.m.
When told that was more than eight hours, she shrugged.
"They got their money's worth."
Miseta was married for 54 years to husband Frank, a lawyer who died in 2004.
They traveled the world together. ("We've never been to Borneo and the two Arctics, but we've been everywhere else.") The couple had no children -- one reason that Miseta kept working so long.
Her last day on the job was actually Dec. 4; she has been using up vacation time since then.
She had calls to screen, mementos to pack and goodbyes to say. She didn't cry.
"My mother tried to teach me not to be a bawl baby," she said. "So you just grit your teeth."
Retirement hasn't diminished her loyalty.
She still professes a fondness for her longtime employer's signature product: the Slyder.
But she admitted she hasn't recently bought a sack full of the little burgers with the big digestive effect.
"I don't eat them very often because I have to be careful," she said. "They're kind of high-powered."
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