CLINTON, Mo. — After almost half of a century at Walmart, one woman is retiring. But she's not just any employee.
Jane Marshall is Walmart's first female manager in the nation, and she's worked here in Missouri her whole life.
"It’s just been, it’s been a good career," Marshall said.
Most people know her from her time at Walmart, but just walking around the store, talking to customers and other employees, it's clear she's much more than that. She's a mentor, a friendly face and a dedicated worker.
"I had many people tell who had been in retail, that said, ‘at 25 years you will be burned out,"' Marshall said. "I got to 25 years and I didn’t feel that way. I thought ‘I like what I’m doing, I enjoy this. I like the customers, I like the people that I work with.’"
Marshall started her journey with the superstore at the age of 23 in 1975.
She was finishing school, and needed to make money, so she joined the Walmart team working in apparel. Four years later, she was asked by the Walton's, the store's owner, to be the manager at the store in Warsaw, Missouri. She finally returned to be manager at the Clinton store in 1986, and never left.
"What has kept me in this business is that I truly believe that this has been my purpose in life," Marshall said.
Her associates and customers being a big part of the reason she stayed on for many years.
Of course, being a woman in a position of power came with it's challenges, though she said she never felt slighted by the people she worked with.
"I worked with all men, all my supervisors were all men. I was always treated with respect," Marshall said. "Sometimes you’d have a little rumble from a customer who would ask to see the store manager, and I would appear, and it was like, ‘No we want to see the store manager.’ And that’s when I got to say, ‘Well, this is what you got.'"
Marshall said she's humbled, not proud, to have been able to work this long.
"Is it an easy job? Imma tell you no, no," she said. "But I will also tell you that I thoroughly believe that anything that is worthwhile in your life doesn’t come easy."
It's those quips of wisdom that her associates will miss the most. One told KSHB there's going to be a big hole when she leaves. But, for now, she's ready to hang up the blue vest, but maybe not for long.
"I’ll probably be knocking on the door here saying, ‘Hey, do you need a cashier? I can work any hours,'" Marshall said. "In one sense it will always be my store, yet, in another sense I’m ready to pass the baton."
Marshall officially retires on Saturday, July 29, at the age of 71.
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