Longtime customers at the Travis AFB Exchange will sometimes encounter Dali Urbina-Yanez and tell her that she hasn’t changed.
“And I’ll say, ‘Yes, I have!’,” said Dali, an inventory control associate. “I was 25 years old when I started, and I’ve been here 50 years. I’ll recognize people before they recognize me and they’ll say, ‘Oh, wow, you’re still here!’”
Dali has been there at Travis, straight through, since June 1976. Her 50th anniversary at the Exchange is June 12.
In 1976, she was married, and her then-husband joined the military. He served about four years, then got a civil-service job at Travis. Dali was working in the town of Winters, about 20 miles from the base. But she didn’t like the commute, so when someone told her to apply to the Exchange, she gave it a shot.
“I was fortunate to get hired here,” she said. “The Travis Exchange works really well for me because it’s close to where I live. I had two kids, and I was able to work and to be there for them when they got out of school. I’ve had a really good schedule the whole time I’ve been here.” She added with a laugh: “That’s why I’ve been here so long.”
But, she said, it doesn’t seem like it’s been that long.
“It doesn’t really feel like 50 years,” she said. “I’m shocked at myself. Young people here, they all say, ‘How long have you been here?’ And I’ll say, ‘Longer than you’ve been alive.’ And we just laugh.
“But it really hasn’t felt like that long,” she continued. “I’m pretty active, and I don’t have any health issues. I can pick up merchandise like luggage and move it. I can take shelves down, do planograms. … Within reason—I don’t lift certain things like I used to, when I was in my 40s and 50s. So laborers help.”
Dali says she’s happy to come to work and take care of the Travis community.
“I have a purpose doing this job, and the benefits are great,” she said. “I see it as a whole package. … Everybody gets along here. We all pull together to make sure things get done.”
Travis’ Northern California location, between the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento, is another plus.
“The weather’s good, and you don’t have to drive too far to go to King’s Canyon, Sequoia or Yosemite National Park, and I like those places,” she said. “I’ve always had time to go on vacation, to go back home to New Orleans. When my dad was sick, I was able to take leave and be with him for a while.”
Dali isn’t sure whether she’s going to shoot for the 55-year mark. But she does plan to stick around for a while.
“I’m not ready to retire in the next year or so,” she said. “I’ll see how it goes. I’m very grateful to be serving the military community, making sure that we have whatever we need, and finding ways to get it if we don’t. It’s a good place to work, and I’m very happy with it. There’s peace of mind in having a job. I like the continuity.”
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