My career at Crest started for me in May of 1989. I came up to the green river auto salvage to look for a gas tank for a Ford Torino Elite. My wife suggested that I pick up a paper and see what was available for work in the area, as I was in between jobs at the time. I was temporarily working construction as I had for a number of years prior. I picked up the paper as she had suggested and saw an ad for a mechanic at Crest Foods. I was a part of a maintenance department at a mushroom farm for a few years early in the 1980’s, mostly doing fabrication work, so I decided to look into the op- portunity. My first interview was with Kim Gallagher, which led to a second interview with Chuck Pfoutz. On July 5, 1989 I officially became an employee at Crest. I have worn only a few hats compared to some that work here. I started out in the Maintenance Department and worked for about a year in the Production Department as a floor manager. For the last 29+ Years at Crest Foods by Ron Amrein
15 or so years I have worked in the Ingredient Division, and more recently, about 12 years at the Mix Facility as well. I have had a lot of challenges and successes along the way, along with a few failures. All in all, I have had a wonder- ful career at Crest. I started to think about some of the statistics along the way and was surprised when I realized how many miles I have driven since I started working here. When I did the math, here is what I found. About 610,000 miles, to put that in perspective, 25 trips around the world at the equator, and when I figured out the amount of time that I was in my car driving, it equated to right around one and a half years (real time in hours). That led me to think about the number of vehicles I have gone through: on my sixth one right now. It cost me approximately 100,000 dollars in gasoline and maybe more than that. That may seem like a lot of money, but over 29+ years, it only equates to about $3500 a year @ 500 miles per week. I based that number on an average cost of gas at $2.75 a gallon which is prob- ably light. I hit 3 deer in 29 years, a flock of turkeys, and had one speeding ticket. I was entered in the Big Buck con- test every year I worked here, but never won. I got a lot of can cozies though. Also in my time, Crest paid me for 322 holidays and 543 vacation days, which equates to 2.3 years of time off. Not to mention the weekends. No mat- ter how you look at it, that is a lot of time off. At the time I started working here I had 3 children ages 11, 10, and 4. All girls, and all three of them, over the course of time had an opportunity to work at Crest. At this time they are ages 40, 39, and 33. They live scattered across the country from California to North Carolina and in between in Indiana. They have given my wife and I, 10 grandchildren, 9 boys and 1 girl. When we are all together it is a houseful. When I started working at Crest, I had been married for 15 years. The day after I retire, we will have been married for 45 years. I still wonder where did all the time go. I am thankful for the opportunity to have worked at Crest. I have met a lot of great people and had a lot of great experiences. I am grateful to the people who helped me along the way. I appreciate the confidence that Crest had in me to make the right decisions and contribute to the growth and success of the company. I thank the Managers that mentored and guided me along the way, for seeing my strengths and weaknesses. So I take this time to say goodbye to all of you I have had the privilege to work with and wish all a healthy and prosperous life. What I will miss most is YOU.
10 Crest Ink October, November & December 2018
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