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A good shop takes care of its own

Miss Joyce's retirement present custom-made by Barnes MetalCrafters.

The tight knit group in a small shop is very special. As I have mentioned before, it is more like family. You have all of the people who quote jobs and make parts, and if you are lucky, you also have a secretary or office manager—a good one who makes things flow smoothly.

Our secretary, Joyce Upchurch, whom we call Miss Joyce, has been part of our team for several years and in the manufacturing industry her whole life. Keeping books, answering phones, bird-dogging money, and carrying out random errands are second nature to her. We’ve come to rely on her for numerous things, as she wears many hats. Another bonus is that she is always there to talk to you if you need advice.

About four years ago, Miss Joyce began telling me of some strange behavior her husband Raymond was exhibiting and how it was affecting his job. Long story short, these habits were the beginning signs of Alzheimer’s disease, and his retirement was going to come sooner rather than later. I wouldn’t say that she confided in me, but she did share information that I felt was personal and confidential.

She told me that she was going to have to retire to help take care of Raymond and that the timeline did not look great, as is the case with every Alzheimer’s patient. I could tell that this was a tough decision for her, and it was difficult for her to tell her boss, who is also my dad. I did not share with him anything she had told me, but he had a good idea about why she was retiring.

The day came for her retirement on June 27th, 2013, and we had a small get-together at the shop for her with her family and close friends. I got the chance to meet Raymond, and he seemed fine and normal to me. The guys in the shop didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes, and this was a normal retirement party.

A couple years went by and we had about two and half more secretaries—one for a long period; another for a week who had to leave because her husband was ill; and another for a few months who left us with mistakes that lasted for several months. They weren’t the same as Miss Joyce, and often times didn’t have the wherewithal to know there was much more that could be done besides the books and phones.

The guys in the shop often would come in and tell us that they missed Miss Joyce. They say that everyone is replaceable, but some people and their positive work ethic just aren’t.

One of our guys, Randy Davis, happened to run into Miss Joyce at Target and told her that we sure could use her help. She said that she could use some time away from the house to get her mind off things and that it would be good for her to work. That was music to our ears, and we told her she was welcome to come back.

She started back shortly after bumping in to Randy. I remember one of her first days back she asked, “What in the world did the last secretary do to this place?!” We all were happy to hear this and knew she was going to fix all of the bonehead mistakes and errors.

This time Joyce was much more open about what was going on with Raymond back at the house. Things were getting worse, and he was starting to forget faces and names. She had to hire help at the house so that she and her family members could go to work. Some days were better than others, but everyone in the shop knew that working was good for her.

A year or so went by, and one day Joyce sent my dad and me a text message saying that Raymond was in the hospital with the flu. She was going to miss work. We definitely were OK with that. The next few weeks, we saw Joyce only for about an hour during the week. She came in and did payroll, and we often left her alone. All of the guys in the shop wondered how her husband was doing. Not having her there put an extra workload on the entire office and some in the shop, but we picked up the slack and kept moving forward.

Recently on a Monday morning, dad picked me up for work and told me that Miss Joyce’s husband had passed away the night before. There wasn’t much I could say, except that I wanted to know when the service was being held. That afternoon I received a text from Joyce with the information about the service, and I forwarded it to the entire shop. Dad and I talked about the service, and we figured that a lot of the guys in the shop would want to attend.

At the end of the next day, we held a meeting to talk about the service. We had decided to shut the shop down at 1 p.m. and let everyone get cleaned up for the 3 p.m. service. The entire shop wanted to attend and show their support for Miss Joyce.

The service went well, and the shop crew gathered together afterwards to pay our respects to the family. I remember the look on Miss Joyce’s face when she saw us. She gave us all a big hug. She was very happy to have her “Barnes MetalCrafters family” there with her.

One of her daughters thanked me for taking care of her mom. It caught me off-guard, and I said that she was the one taking care of us. She then smiled and told me it was mutual.

No one really will ever know how Alzheimer’s might affect them until it touches their lives. Each individual in our shop was moved by this experience and will always remember how it changed theirs.

Before I sat down to write about Miss Joyce’s experience, I knew I needed to ask her permission. I approached her and told her I needed to ask her a question. When I explained to her what I wanted to write about, she said she had no problem with it. She said “I thought it was very unusual that everyone who works with me went to the funeral. I thought it was very nice.”

About the Author
Barnes MetalCrafters

Nick Martin

2121 Industrial Park Drive SE

Wilson, NC, 27893

252-291-0925