News : Dave Whitson celebrates retirement after 40 years at Michael & Dowd

Dave Whitson welcomed many people to his retirement celebration Friday at Micheal & Dowd.

Looking at the alarm clock last week, after his retirement from Michael & Dowd, Dave Whitson smiled, says his wife, Diana.

That’s because for the first time in 40 years, Dave is on his own schedule.

“You never know how many years you have left, and I want to make the most of them,” says Dave. “After 40 years of working six days a week, I just want to relax and be on my own clock.”

The furniture store at the corner of 4th Street and First Avenue filled was crowded Friday evening, as many of Dave’s friends and relatives gathered during the Vinton Unlimited After Hours event to congratulate him.

Dave said he “wore many caps” during his 40+ years at the store that began on Nov. 20, 1972. Mostly people saw him as a customer service rep, helping them pick out appliances, furniture or carpet. Dave remembers his first sale in 1972 – end tables to Judy Hertle. His last sale last week: Carpet.

In between, he sold innumerable refrigerators, stoves, recliners, sofas and other items, and made many friends.

Dave, who was born in Vinton and is a 1969 Washington High School graduate, studied conservation at AEA 10 (now Kirkwood Community College) and had been considering a job in that field. But he and Diana had just been married (they celebrated their 40th anniversary on April 8, 2012), and Dave needed a job.

And although Dave did not plan, in 1972, on working there 40 years, he said the job worked out well for him and his family.

Daughter Jamie Timmerman recalled growing up at the store, and especially playing in the upstairs area as a child.

“Dependable”

Lisa Vogt was a child when Dave began working at the store with her parents, Ron and Kay Dowd. Now in charge of the store, Lisa said the word that best describes Dave is “dependable.”

“We always knew we could depend on Dave,” said Lisa. When Ron had a stroke and Lisa’s husband had a heart attack, Dave was always there.

“Sometimes we wondered who would man the store, but we could count on Dave,” said Lisa on Friday, as well-wishers gathered at the store.

Dave is also a practical joker, said Lisa, who clearly remembers the incident in which Dave found a dead bat and tied it to the handle of a serviceman’s tool box. She still recalls the way the man screamed when he reached for the handle and felt the bat instead.

Break-in solved

One night in 1985 or 1986, a couple of young men came into the store one evening and asked about some of the televisions.

“They seemed to be acting strange,” Dave recalls – so strangely suspicious, in fact, that when they left Dave went outside and wrote down their license plate number.

“They came back later that night, after we closed,” Dave recalls. “And when the police came, I gave them the license plate number.”

Police followed that lead to an apartment in Vinton, where all of the stolen merchandise was recovered.

“Because the insurance did not have to pay the loss, I received a $1,000 reward,” said Dave.

He and Diana used that money to buy cabinets for their kitchen.

Lisa said that is not the last time that Dave did something extraordinary to protect the store from theft.

“One day a man came in and took a cowboy hat off one of our displays,” recalls Lisa. “He put it on his head and walked out. But Dave followed him down the sidewalk and got the hat back – and this was not that long ago.”

Changes

Electronics have changed much since Dave began selling furniture. TVs and appliances – as well as how stores keep track of sales and inventory – are different. Diana remembers seeing Dave’s monthly “report card,” which listed everything he had sold.

“But now,” she says. “They keep track of all of that on the computer.”

The store was still selling wringer washing machines – devices with two rollers to squeeze out water – in 1972. Diana was even using one at times.

“A lot of farm wives would wash their husbands’ work clothes win the wringer,” she said.

The changes in electronics also mean many fewer TV repair jobs.

“We’ve become a throw-away society,” says Dave.

Dave said his favorite products as a consumer are Maytag appliances and La-Z-Boy chairs.

Retirement plans

Dave said he does not have any specific plans now that he is retired. Diana will work a few more years at Aegon. Dave, however, said he plans on hunting, fishing mushroom hunting – and of course, driving his grandchildren to school every morning in “the bus,” his SUV.

“Dad will still be our girls’ “bus driver,” so he won’t entirely be out of work,” says Jamie.

Dave went on a fishing trip last year and said that while no specific trips are planned now, if one comes up, he will be available to go.

Yet, he said, working at Michael and Dowd “has been an interesting and fun ride.”

“They’ve been good to us,” he said.