Ivy Thomas came to work Friday but left his nametag at home.
Instead he’s wearing a maroon suit with checkered fabric, shiny dress shoes and a black hat with a small red feather on the side. He’s the best dressed man at the King Soopers in east Denver’s Montclair neighborhood.
This is Thomas’ retirement day. At 87-years-old, he just finished a 31-year career as a grocery bagger. Without hesitation, Thomas emphatically says he appreciated his time at the store 100 percent but after a moment, he changes the answer.
“Five-hundred-thousand percent,” he laughs. Ivy Thomas has a great laugh. It’s small and soft but shows off his smile.
“I appreciated it. But I’m leaving. I just got that old,” he says. “I done worked hard my whole life and I feel like I should be free."
No one can blame the guy. Thomas started working at 7-years-old, picking cotton in the South, and he never stopped.
“I like the people I work with, and they’re nice to me, and I wasn’t sick or nothin’. I just felt like working because they were nice,” he says.
The people – the managers, and the coworkers, and the customers -- are the reason Thomas chose to stay as long as he did. Customers know him by name and seek out Thomas’ lane when it’s time to pay.
“Mr. Ivy is a huge part of the community. We got an opportunity to come in and say thank you. He’s always smiling, always laughing and joking with us. It’s been good. He’s an amazing man,” Mike Pavlich says, surrounded by his fellow firefighters from Engine 15.
They’re stationed a few blocks away and shop at King Soopers almost every day. About a dozen firefighters poured into the store for the retirement party with Thomas’ family and other employees. They came in uniform before a training exercise, specifically to wish Ivy Thomas well.
The firefighters wait in line to hug and congratulate Ivy, who starts singing when he sees them, and not because it’s a special occasion. It’s just what Ivy does.
Next to the strawberries, he belts the blues to his friends.
“When the day’s so long and dreadful, and the sun refuses to shine, I won’t feel so lonely, baby, if I knew that you was mine.”
With that spirit, not many people would guess he’s almost 90. Thomas called out sick only three times in three decades, and there are three secrets to his health: drink a lot of water, don’t do drugs and working is good for you.
“The buses come in. The old people on the buses. They’re older than me, some of them, and some ain’t as old as me, but they’re cripple and hurt. And I help them with the buses, the bags, and stuff. The buggies. I appreciate helping them.”
Twelve kids and 12 grandkids will keep Thomas busy in retirement, but the rest of his plans are simple.
“I ain’t planning on doing nothing but making two trips. I’m going to go to Texas and see my two sisters. Come back, and go to see my daughter in California. And then I’m going to come back and stay around home. I ain’t going to take my money I have worked for and go see another country and come back broke and hungry. I’m going to stay right here. This is a nice place to live. I love Colorado.”
The sign outside of the store reads “now hiring,” but the consensus is the King Soopers at East 13th Avenue and Krameria Street won’t be quite the same.
