Longtime zoo employee Blanche Jones, pictured will retire on July 22, 2016, following a 43-year career at Dickerson Park Zoo. Jones, 88, is currently the longest-serving employee working at the zoo, the Springfield-Greene County Park Board and the City of Springfield. She has held the same position, administrative assistant, throughout her entire career.
Half my life has been spent at the zoo, said Jones, who started working at the zoo in November 1972.
I came to the zoo simply because Id worked behind closed doors, she said. The zoo is an open place. I can get out in the fresh air, see outside at all times and even get out and take a walk.
At first, however, she wasnt sure she would stay.
My first day of work, I walked into my office and saw an old typewriter that probably came over on the Mayflower, Jones recalled. I was used to a nice IBM model. I made it through four hours and went home, not sure Id return. My husband said to me, Dont you think you should give it another try? So with a little encouragement, I made it 43 years.
Zoo Director and Park Board Assistant Director Mike Crocker has worked closely with Jones for all of his 40 years at the zoo.
She is the epitome of dependability, she truly is, said Crocker. Those of us who have worked with her, that was the first thing we said. She is very detail oriented and a stickler for neatness.
As administrative assistant, Jones has worked on budgeting, bookkeeping, time sheets, employee records, zoo records and more.
I do a little bit of everything, she said. What needs to be done gets done.
In the last 43 years, Jones has worked under three Zoo Directors and four Parks Directors. During that time she has seen tremendous growth at the zoo, which was much smaller in 1972, with no fence and free admission.
Jones has also experienced huge changes in office technology, from hand-written records to computers. Crocker said the conversion to digital records almost caused Jones to retire three years ago, just after her 40th anniversary with the zoo.
There were three things coming she was worried about: electronic times sheets, an Oracle upgrade and something else, said Crocker. She didnt think she could do that and she thought shed get out of here before that happened. But I said, Why dont you stay, and well take them one at a time? She did stay around and we were able to get those things implemented. And we were able to get three more years out of her!
Jones still uses a typewriter although not the same one she started out with in 1972.
Even in retirement, Jones plans to continue to spend time at the zoo, where her favorite animals are the elephants. Friends of the Zoo presented her a lifetime membership as a retirement gift.
I could very well wind up as a zoo volunteer, said Jones. Go Back | 
