Working at the lumberyard – at 92 years young

June Rossum of Evansville is 92 years old and she’s still punching the clock – close to 40 hours per week.

What keeps her going?

“I don’t know, I just do,” she said. “I’ve just been very grateful that I am able to do it yet.”

Currently, she’s a bookkeeper for Lakeside Lumber in Ashby.

“I’ve been working with them for a little more than 30 years,” June said.

But her bookkeeping career started long before that.

June started working at Midland Co-op in Brandon in 1941, right out of high school.

“The fellow there was very, very great to teach me how I was supposed to keep books,” June said. “And, of course, that was a co-op so you kept every record there was because they had to have the earnings for each person. They had five stores and five trucks at that time.”

Then, in 1957, she started working for her brothers at their construction company, Carlson Construction.

Her husband then bought the lumber company in Evansville and she switched over to working with him.

She’s a lifelong resident of Evansville and she’s always been a bookkeeper.

“I’ve enjoyed it always, especially meeting people,” she said. She’s developed lifelong friends during her career.

Even today, lumberyards are generally male-dominated retail jobs, but June said she’s treated very well.

“They have treated me as best as it’s possible to be,” she said.

June is currently working with her son, Richard, the owner of Lakeside Lumber, and her grandson, Michael.

“I don’t do as much now as I used to. I used to mix paint, and I’d go out and help load lumber and the whole bit, but I’m not able anymore,” she said.

By the way, there are no plans for retirement.

“Not until I have to,” she said with a laugh. “When I get frustrated with something that I can’t figure out, I keep telling them, ‘I’m through and I’m not coming back,’ and then they say, ‘No, you have to come back.’”

They can’t seem to do without her. Last winter a snowstorm was brewing and June was hesitant about making it in to work.

“My grandson called and said, ‘If we come and get you will you come then?’ I didn’t have a choice, I guess,” she giggled.

When asked again what keeps her going, June spilled a couple of her secrets. She said, “I don’t miss a church service if it’s at all possible. I’m not real active in their activities because of my work, but I’m still able to enjoy the services. I definitely have my religious convictions.

“I have to get up in the morning to go to work – that’s a must. I thoroughly believe that,” she said.

Plus, she said, she wouldn’t be very good at retirement.

“I keep telling myself I will have to be staying at home sometime and I just can’t figure out what I will do,” she said. “Everything just rotates around my work schedule.”

But, most importantly, she said, “I’ve been blessed that I’ve had family to keep me going.”

Amy Chaffins

After working as a journalist in the Alexandria area for the last 10 years, Amy Chaffins made the move to work as managing editor of the Osakis Review newspaper in December of 2010. She reports on school and city government, any Osakis-related news and writes feature stories as well. Amy also reports for the Review’s sister publication, the Echo Press. This is the quote you’ll find above her desk at work: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” ~Steve Jobs 1955-2011 Amy is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, a Minnesota Newspaper Association award winner and admires the writing style of the late Charles Kuralt. Amy and her husband, Brandon, live in Alexandria and have two dogs and a cat to keep track of. Follow Osakis Review Managing Editor Amy Chaffins on Twitter at @AmyReview.

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