One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 125 years of family serving family
Billie Holifield has no intention of retiring … again.
She did it once, in 1996, after working at the Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland Exchange for 34 years.
Holifield was officially retired for two weeks before going back to work at the main store. She’s been there ever since.
“I didn’t really want to travel or anything,” she said of her decision to return to the Exchange, where “you meet so many different people who come from so many different places. There are so many nice people I have met here in my life that I would have never met by traveling.”
On Nov. 18, Holifield was honored during a ceremony in recognition of her more than 55 years of service to the Department of Defense’s largest retailer.
The ceremony was attended virtually by Exchange Chief Operating Officer Jason Rosenberg and Central Region Senior Vice President Jesse Martinez.
On hand to present Holifield the COO coin and service award were Mid Central Region Vice President Antonio Porter; Lackland Deputy Executive Agent Steven Thompson, the 502nd Installation Support Group; JBSA Lackland-Randolph Exchange General Manager Carrie Cammel; and Exchange Main Store Manager Rick Evans.
Back then, “You received trucks, you mopped floors if you had to and you stocked. It was a small store and everybody was like family and we all pitched in and worked together,” she said.
Holifield worked at Lackland’s branch store while finishing high school before following her then-manager to the main store. She went on to work in the cashier’s cage before moving to the accounting department.
In the mid-1990s, when her fellow accounting associates were transferred to Fort Sam Houston, Holifield opted to retire—at least, that was the plan.
When retirement didn’t suit her, she returned to the main store where she continues to work part time as an office assistant. She also handles some accounting-related tasks for Evans.
“She’s a fantastic employee. She’s loved by everybody,” he said. “The associates just love talking to her. She’s just a breath of fresh air and has had a lot of experiences.”
Holifield said retirement still is not on her radar.
“I haven’t thought about it,” she said. “I just look at it as I’ve got a job, and it’s a fun job too.”
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