One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 130 years of family serving family
Who she is: Georgiann Dick, inventory control associate, Eglin AFB Exchange
Years with the Exchange: Her official 40th anniversary was in October, but her first Exchange job took place several months before October 1985.
“I worked as Christmas help at the Maxwell Exchange PowerZone in late 1984,” she said. “I went home because my son was graduating. In the meantime, my husband got orders to run the Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory at Eglin. So we transferred here. When I got down here, there was no record of me working at Maxwell.”
Military connections: Dick is a military spouse and daughter. Her husband served in the Air Force for 27 years before retiring in 1991 as a chief master sergeant. Her father served in the Army in World War II and was wounded twice while serving in Okinawa. After the war, he entered the Air Force Reserves, retiring as a master sergeant.
Shopping at the Exchange: Dick grew up in Coshocton, Ohio, a small town about 50 miles from the closest Exchange, which was in Dayton. So even though her father served, her first Exchange memories come from her marriage.
“I lived in Ohio till I got married,” she said. “My husband was assigned to Loring Air Force Base in Maine at that time [Loring closed in 1994]. Then we went to Okinawa and then came back to Loring.”
Her husband served in Thailand during the Vietnam War. After his return, he was assigned to a base in England. They then went to Denver, Germany and Maxwell AFB in Alabama.
“I shopped at all the Exchanges,” she said. “I bought clothes; I bought a beautiful diamond ring when we were in England. I bought my son stereo equipment, recorders and TVs. I’ve spent most of my money at the BX.”
Coming to the Exchange: “A woman who was a friend of ours in Limestone, Maine, near Loring, told me it was a good place to work,” she said. “ I had good friends in England who worked there and told me all about it.”
She applied at the Eglin BX, where she was hired as seasonal help, working at the jewelry counter while a supervisor was on extended leave. After the supervisor returned, Dick was assigned to the warehouse, where she worked for a few months as a receiver. When the supervisor went on leave again, Dick returned to the jewelry counter.
Then an inventory control job came up. She applied for it and has been working as an ICA ever since.
Sticking around: Dick had been at Eglin for two years when her husband received orders to return to Germany. “We’d just built a house, so he said, ‘You stay here and I’ll go do my time, since you’ve already got a job’,” she said.
When he came back, he had news for her.
“I was waiting for our next assignment,” she said. “When he came home, I said, ‘Where are we going next?’ He said, ‘We’re not—because I retired.’ I said, ‘What do you mean, you retired? Why didn’t you tell me you were retiring? I would’ve gone back to Germany to see my friends over there.’ He said, ‘It was no big deal—but the stewardess gave me a bottle of champagne.’ I said, ‘Oh, great—we don’t even drink.’ I’ve hung in at the store ever since then.”
Familiar faces: Like most associates who have had a long career at one store, Dick has regular customers. “I was on the sales floor recently with a boss and she was on a ladder, and a woman came in and said, ‘Are you still here?’ I said, ‘Yes, it was 40 years two weeks ago.’ She said, ‘Oh, my gosh—you must be in your 80s!’ I said, ‘No, I’m sorry, I’m 78.’ And she said, ‘Oh, that’s my age!’ And away she went.
“I used to deal with Excell trading cards, so the guys who collect them all know me and I know them. A lot of people I used to work with here come in and they all say the same thing: ‘You’re still here? You need to retire. You’d enjoy it more.’ I’ll say, ‘No, I’d be bored to death. I enjoy it here. I enjoy the people I work with and I enjoy my job.’”
Talking about the weather: Eglin’s position on the Florida Panhandle means that it’s in a hurricane zone. Dick has been through a few.
“When a storm comes our way, I’ve got a list,” she said. “We get batteries, we get water in. Generators are sent to the stores that get hit. We get ready. [Once] one was coming for us, and I stayed with the stockroom manager and helped him load water and food for his dogs. I was the last one here with the store manager at the time.”
Being a straight shooter: Dick is known for saying what’s on her mind. “I tell every boss and every GM that comes here, ‘I will not lie to you; I will not lie for you’,” she said. “’If I did something wrong, I will take the hit. But if I didn’t, I won’t take the hit.’”
Family Serving Family: “I try to take care of as many people as I can,” Dick said. “I was raised to be fair and honest with people”
Leave a Reply