As anyone who attended the all-employee meeting knows, Sylvia Farnham is retiring today after an incredible 44 years at National Life. Before we wish her well, we asked her to answer a few questions.
Q. What brought you to National Life?
A. A lot of my friends worked here and told me it was a great place to work. They were right!!
Q. What would you say has been the biggest change that you’ve seen at National Life over the past 44 years?
A. Computers. When I started we only had the mainframe and a few dumb terminals or Green Screen terminals that were shared. All transactions and changes were written on paper. The computer room would key punch the information onto cards than the cards where feed into the mainframe. That is how the system was updated. Crazy right?
Q. What advice do you have for young people just starting out in their career
A. Get to know the people, learn from them, ask questions.
Q. What’s one fad or trend you hope never comes back?
A. The mullet.
Q. If you had one wish, what would it be?
A. Eliminate greed — corporate and individual!
Q. What’s the funniest thing that has happened to you recently?
A. Walking to my car after work with a coworker, I hit my key fob to unlock my door. Lights didn’t come on so I tried it again, still no lights. So I tried opening the door and only then did I realize it wasn’t my car. Not a good time to have a witness!
Q. What are the first three things you plan to do when you retire?
A. 1) Relax for a few days! 2) Go see my grandsons in Texas. 3) Finish a few projects at home.
Q. What are your hobbies and passions and how will you pursue them now that you don’t have to come to the office every day?
A. I want to do some traveling; my goal is to visit to all the states. Love to do crafting of any kind and hoping to get my creative side working again.
Q. What’s the best part of your day?
A. Coffee and seeing my Coworkers first thing in the morning! They are such a great group and I will miss them.
Q. What would surprise your coworkers to know about you?
A. That I can be really shy.