Regular patrons of the Indianwood Junction party store at Baldwin and Indianwood will probably know her face, even if they don’t know her name.
Employee Thelma Mead, who first started at the store when it opened 25 years ago, is retiring on April 24 and moving to Attica. She celebrated her retirement from the store with co-workers, family and friends at a party at the Knights of Columbus on April 24.
Mead was born in her grandmother’s house in Gingellville, and lived there before moving to Capac, near Imlay City. She eventually returned to Gingellville, and then to a home near the Indianwood Junction on Baldwin Road.
‘My mom had polio as a child…she had to give up driving, so it was convenient for her (to work at the store),? said Mead’s daughter Debi Chittick, who attended Lake Orion Schools with her twin brother Dave (now living in Oregon), and sister Dawn, who lives in Attica. Mead also attended Lake Orion Schools.
‘The Ehman Center was my high school,? said Mead, the grandmother of seven children and great-grandmother of one.
Mead was working at Neumaier’s IGA on Baldwin Road when Indianwood Junction opened.
?(Indianwood Junction owner Darrell Enneking) and Al Neumaier were friends, and Darrell was opening a store,? she said. ‘I was working at Al’s IGA….as soon as (Indianwood Junction opened), I went to work there.?
Mead said her co-workers at Indianwood Junction have always been good to her.
‘The stock boys either walked me home or drove me home,? she added. ‘I’m going to miss all the kids that work there. I love them all.?
Mead has made good friends working at the store, including owners Darrell and Mary Lou Enneking and their two daughters.
‘They’ve been good to me,? she said. ‘I love them.?
Mead will also miss regular patrons of the store, such as some Oakland County Sheriff’s Department deputies.
‘I’ve gotten to know all the sheriff’s deputies that work afternoon, they’re a great bunch,? she said. ‘Guy Hubble is my neighbor, and Glen Walker always comes in.?
According to Mead, there are also a lot of people who recognize her in town, although she doesn’t know some of their names.
‘They’ve been coming in for years. I don’t know their names, but I know their faces,? she added.
Asked about some of her favorite memories from working at the store, Mead said she recently ran into a former stockboy named Dick Matski.
‘He was the only stockboy to come up behind me with a dolly, and take me on a wild ride,? she added.
Mead also remembered a man named Lonnie who worked at the former Hadron store while she was working at Indianwood Junction.
‘We were always picking on each other,? she said. ‘I came into work one day, and there was this pair of old men’s work shoes, size 10, painted baby blue. They were nailed to a board that said ‘Thelma’s baby shoes.?
‘On Easter one year, there was a chocolate-colored toilet, with Easter grass and candy in the bowl, and it said ‘Thelma’s Easter basket. But he was a nice guy, he’d give you the shirt off his back.?
Mead is known to some of the local kids patronizing Indianwood Junction as the ‘Wicked Witch? because of her no-nonsense approach.
‘If they weren’t nice (in the store), she’d set you straight,? said Debi.
‘I’ve been able to enjoy my life after my eight-hour work day (because of Thelma),? said Darrell Enneking.
After her retirement party, Mead will turn her attention on the move from her Orion Township home to Attica, near Lapeer.
‘It’ll probably take me the first year to get everything unpacked,? she said. ‘I’ll just take it as it comes. There’s a small store by my new house, my daughter Dawn works there and she said if I get bored to let her know.?
Mead also plans to catch up on some reading, work on crossword puzzles and do needlepoint.