Richard Lord,78, has been working for the same company for three-quarters of his life.
Richard Lord has been working for the same company for 60 years.
The 78-year-old agent with PGG Wrightson Real Estate in Te Puke has outlasted almost too many iterations of the company to count - mergers, splits, rebrandings, reshuffles, redundancy rounds.
All have come and gone, but he has remained.
"I haven't changed, the world has changed itself around me - to its detriment," he said, chucking behind his moustache.
He joined Dalgety, which later became PGG Wrightson, in 1957 when he was 18. He was the office junior in Hamilton and most of his work was filing.
Over the next six decades, he worked as a stock agent, a sub-branch manager and executive officer, spending time in offices in Huntly, Hastings, Dannevirke, Te Awamutu, Pahiatua and Te Puke twice.
Along the way he found a good woman to marry - Renais - and they had two children, Nathan and Hilary.
He watched the company go through periods of enormous upheaval but said he never considered leaving because he felt "part of a family", with a wide circle of friends around the country.
Today Lord lives in Te Puke and has a small orchard. His wife died several years ago so he is living alone but has his newlywed son just down the road.
He said he had been in no hurry to retire as he enjoyed his work as a rural real estate agent and the opportunities it gave him to make people happy.
He was less fond of the new technology and the industry's ever-increasing regulatory paperwork.
Richard Lord with his 60-year plaque in his long service gift, a La-Z-Boy. Photo / Samantha Morton
Lord's friend of some 59 years, David Minify of Tauranga, had some stories to tell about his mate but insisted they would not be fit to print.
"He's priceless, just priceless. He hasn't changed as he's just gotten older."
On Friday the Te Puke office, where Lord has worked for the past 20 years, held a celebration of his 60 years with the company.
Peter Newbold, general manager of real estate for PGG Wrightson, came up from the head office in Christchurch. He presented Lord with gifts from the company - including a La-Z-Boy chair - saying Lord could pretty well do as he pleased and keep his job as long as he liked.
So is retirement on the cards?
"Not before Christmas," Lord said. "Maybe next year."
Richard Lord celebrating his sixty years with the same company. PHOTO/SAMANTHA MOTION
- Richard Lord, 78 - Father of two - First job age 18, 1957 - With Dalgety, which became PGG Wrightson - Still with company after 60 years - Te Puke real estate agent - Retiring? Not yet.
