Experience Works President and CEO Cynthia Metzler and Ray Jenkins at the press conference in Washington, D.C.
Horatio “Ray” F. Jenkins, 101
Maintenance Coordinator
Champlain Valley Exposition
Colchester, Vermont
Ray Jenkins can repair most things mechanical, electrical or engine-related. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise when you consider he has been tinkering with machines since he was 12 years old, or for more than nine decades.
Born in 1906 in Amenia, New York, Mr. Jenkins remembers delivering groceries as one of his earliest jobs, but after training in business and electrical engineering at Albany Business College and then North Western University, he embarked on a wide range of positions that included an engineer with General Electric, a mortician’s assistant, a chauffeur, a fireman and a policeman. Later on, he and his wife also ran a bakeshop in Chatham, New York. He is a 32nd degree Mason, a member of the Odd Fellows and former district deputy for the state of New York.
In 1952 he joined IBM in Poughkeepsie, New York, and was transferred to Essex Junction, Vermont. In 1967, Mr. Jenkins suffered a heart attack and was given two months to live. Forty years later he’s still going strong. He worked at IBM for nearly 20 years before retiring. This past summer, he was honored as one of IBM’s oldest retirees at the company’s 50th anniversary of moving to Vermont.
After retiring from IBM, he quickly discovered his hobbies of coin collecting, fishing, playing cards and bowling weren’t nearly enough to keep his mind fully stimulated, so he began doing odd jobs on the grounds of the Champlain Valley Exposition (CVE). Back then, maintenance work was focused on maintaining the buildings and mowing the lawns and preparing for the annual Champlain Valley Fair.
Twenty-eight years later Mr. Jenkins is still employed by the Champlain Valley Exposition. He wakes at 4 a.m. and by 5 leaves the Colchester house he built and travels to the Essex Junction fairgrounds to put in a full days work. When asked about cutting back his hours as he approached his hundredth birthday, he said, “I work 40 hours just like everybody else. If I can’t do things, I don’t want to be here.”
Mr. Jenkins supervises two to three part-time employees working as assistants in the exposition’s 12,200 square-foot maintenance complex. His responsibilities include maintaining a fleet of three trucks, three tractors, three fork lifts, a one-man lift, a fleet of mowers, string trimmers, paint sprayers, generators, compressors, welding equipment, as well as 15 to 30 golf or utility-type carts used by employees, fair superintendents and show promoters.
The Exposition now hosts more than 100 special events annually, and its facilities range from grandstands to the Robert E. Miller Expo Center, along with outdoor facilities and a seasonal campground. He works full time during the eight months of the Expo’s busy season. His contributions over the years have earned the respect and admiration of his fellow workers, senior management and CVE’s Board of Directors.
CVE General Manager David F. Grimm says, “Ray has an amazing work ethic, a strong sense of commitment and dedication, and an innate ability to diagnose equipment problems and determine the right thing to do. In his current role as maintenance coordinator, he developed a new inventory control system and performed numerous preventive maintenance regimens on the company’s equipment, saving thousands of dollars. Ray is seen as a mentor and teacher to other employees, particularly in the area of safety.”
In 2003 in recognition of his years of service and significant accomplishments, the exposition named its new maintenance building, the H.F. “Ray” Jenkins Maintenance Facility.
Mr. Jenkins says a key to his longevity and success has been his “willingness to work and do the best I knew how to do the job I was doing.” The defining moment in his life, Jenkins said, was his wedding day, November 20, 1936. In addition to his work, he still enjoys his hobbies of reading, coin collecting and watercolor painting.
He is also a modest man, especially when the media or his friends have put the spotlight on his accomplishments. His homespun humor, lifetime of experiences and ability to make friends makes him someone to be admired, emulated and respected.
In 2006, at the age of 100, he was recognized by Experience Works as the Outstanding Older Worker from Vermont. Though a brief illness kept him from traveling to Washington last year, this fall he plans to join his fellow outstanding older workers to demonstrate that age is no barrier to achievement in a job that values a broad perspective, problem solving, commitment and dedication. Ray Jenkins proves that age can be a tremendous asset in the workplace.
