Norma Keiser retired after working 52 years at Grossenburg Implement. She is pictured with three generations of the Grossenburg family. Pictured from left are Charlie Grossenburg, Gene Grossenburg, Keiser and Barry Grossenburg. A retirement open house for Keiser was held Dec. 2.
By Dan Bechtold
Editor
For 52 years Norma Keiser has been a constant and a dedicated employee in the business office at Grossenburg Implement.
A retirement party for Keiser was held Friday, Dec. 2. Family, friends, Grossenburg employees came to thank her for her dedication and to wish her well in her retirement.
Keiser started working at Grossenburg Implement in 1970 as a DECA student at Winner High School. DECA was a program where students went to a class in the morning and then worked at various jobs in Winner in the afternoon. Dick Shoemaker was Keiser’s DECA teacher.
Actually, she started at Grossenburgs the summer between her junior and senior years of high school. She went to the business with her mother to pay a bill. When she saw a need to help at Grossenburgs she asked her mother is she tthought they would hire her. Her mother told her to call Blanche Grossenburg who was the head of the business office.
Keiser was hired and then worked for the firm as DECA student.
Keiser graduated from Winner High School in 1971 and went to college for two years at Northern State University to get her two year business degree.
Keiser said Blanche told her when she finished college she could come back and work at the implement dealership.
Keiser recalls her first job. She had a manual typewriter on a very small desk. Her job was to type up cards with parts numbers on them.
She did a look of bookkeeping duties. Mainly she did the daily audit and balancing the cash. This progressed to doing the payroll.
Years ago the employees were paid each week and this required her to work on Saturdays and she got Tuesdays off.
This then changed to paying employees every other week.
When she first started there were between 70 to 100 employees at Grossenburgs, one of the biggest employers in Winner.
The staff in the business office also did the notes on the purchase of machinery.
Keiser is proud of the fact that she has worked for four generations of the Grossenburg family. That includes C. J. Gene, Barry and now Charlie.
When asked what she enjoyed about her job she said the people. “It was a good family to work for,” she said.
And her co-workers were an important part of her life and many worked a long time with Norma including Pat Genzlinger who worked with Norma for 42 years and Karen Emme, 25 years.
Norma recalls at times she and Pat would work till 8 p.m. trying to balance the audits.
Keiser’s dedication was awarded by members of the community when she received the Winner Area Chamber of Commerce employee of the year award.
Norma is married to Chuck Keiser who was a school teacher in Winner from Britt, Iowa. They fell in love and have raised their family in Winner. They have two children—Nikki and Kevin plus three grandchildren—Kaden, Karson and Kollyns Keiser.
In retirement, Norma says she is going to take some time for herself.
It has been a wonderful career for Norma at Grossenburg Implement.
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