By By JESSICA SIEFF / Niles Daily Star
NILES – Not every employee who hands in a letter of resignation to an employer garners a celebration afterwards. At best, sometimes there may be a stale cake with some watered down punch.
But at Toefco Engineered Coating Systems, Inc. on Wednesday – employees and owners came together for one, very special retirement.
Dale Linsenmier has officially retired after working with Toefco as their "custodial engineer" for 22 years
Linsenmier, who has Down Syndrome, was responsible for taking care of the janitorial services for the 50,000 square foot facility that houses 40 employees, said Artie McElwee III, vice president and general manager of Toefco.
He would "bring life and humor to the place," McElwee said. "He'd always make you smile."
Toefco has been in business for 54 years. And when McElwee took over as its third owner, Linsenmier was already employed by the company. Linsenmier's employment was sealed during the transition, McElwee said, with a reported lifetime employee contract.
"We made all the promises in the world," he said. Linsenmier would remain with the company "no matter what."
Linsenmier was aware of the party being held in his honor on Wednesday but – he was unaware that he'd be presented with a special plaque, a DVD player and a collection of The Three Stooges DVDs.
"He loves the stooges," McElwee said with a laugh. On the plaque, a picture of Linsenmier shows him posing in Toefco's hallways in his standard uniform – a big smile on his face.
"Dale's a ham," said McElwee. "He's hamming it up in the picture."
McElwee said he considers Linsenmier a brother -and can remember when he found Linsenmier one day, visibly upset. The manual labor was getting to be a little too much for him, McElwee said.
"I told him, it's time for him to relax. And he understood."
When Linsenmier arrived for the retirement party -he was all hugs and smiles and incredible energy. The best part of working at Toefco, he said, has been making "lots of friends."
Up next for Linsenmier is a vacation to Nashville, Tenn.
"He'll never be forgotten," said McElwee. And it would seem, for Linsenmier, his family at Toefco won't be forgotten either.
"They're my family," he said. "Forever."