Bio: Parrett, Gladys (50 Year Store Employee - 1974)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Parrett, Wasserburger, Brown, Trimberger, Saracoff

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 12/05/1974

Parrett, Gladys (50 Year Store Employee - 1974)

Gladys Parrett marks 50 years on “THE Street”

“Make it small and put it on an inside page.”

This was the admonition of Gladys Parrett as she stood in front of a shelf of canned goods at the C.C. Wasserburger Store on West Seventh Street in Neillsville.

She had stood there many times before. In fact, some might consider Miss Parrett a fixture there, for on December 1 she started her 50th year of employment in the same location.

That makes her the employee with the longest service of any woman in Neillsville. Probably she has served third longest in the retail area of the city, giving way only to her employers, Leo and Henry Wasserburger.

“They were here when I came in 1925,” Miss Parrett told The Clark County Press. As far as The Press knows, no presently active merchant has plied his wares in the downtown district that long.

In fact, the Wasserburger store is one that goes back almost a century in service to the community.

Miss Parrett started in retailing in Neillsville when she was a young girl. She worked first in the general store operated by Elmer Brown, located then in the present location of the Trimberger & Saracoff law offices. After four years with Mr. Brown, she transferred to the Wasserburger Store.

Or, as she put it, “I came to work for Katie.” Katie is the late Katherine Wasserburger, who was widely known as a retail merchant in the city, and the elder sister of Leo and Henry Wasserburger.

Miss Parrett says there have been many changes in retailing during the 49 years she has been at the same old stand. She expects to stay on a while yet, but there is no definiteness in how long she will remain.