Willis bids farewell

After nearly three decades of dedicated service, Sylvia Willis, a steadfast pillar of the community and employee of Crumpler Plastic Pipe, is retiring. She leaves after 29 years of loyal service and heartfelt love for the area, a town where she has forged a plethora of connections, becoming known and loved as the front desk lady.

“Well, health reasons are number one and I travel 45 minutes one way to work every day, so that’s 45 one way and 45 back the other way,” Willis said, on why she decided to retire. “I used to live in Sampson County, but I moved to Bladen County when I got remarried. That’s where I live now with my husband (Emmett Willis), and he is disabled and retired now. So, I just feel like it’s time to take a break, to enjoy myself and to go visit family that I haven’t seen in a while.

“Even if it’s just to help someone that needs a ride, I’ll be there for them now to give it to them,” she said laughing. “Oh! Of course, whenever they want me to come back and make some hot dogs for our end-of-year cookout we all love, I’ll come back and cook hot dogs.”

Willis’s career at Crumpler started in the 1970s during a pivotal moment in her life — her career at a manufacturing plant was in jeopardy.

“Well, I was working at a manufacturing place and they were slowing down and on the verge of closing here in Roseboro years ago,” she said. “I got married in 1974, and moved to Sampson County. I had two boys (Michael and Roger); when their dad and I ended our journey, I remained in Sampson County so they could go to school at Lakewood, that’s where they wanted to go to school.”

It was during that time she met and fell in love with her now husband, Emmett. It was also a time Willis knew that she had to find another form of employment which brought her to the Crumpler’s.

“I met my current husband at a gospel sing, and we kind of hit it off right then. We’ve been together for 32 years,” she said, nearly giddy as she recalled that first encounter. “The manufacturing plant I was at was also closing around then and I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to find something to do.’ Mr. Crumpler’s brother-in-law, Jim, had a staffing office and I went to see him and he placed me here at Crumpler. That was back when they were just three trailers large. I was told then, if they like you, they’ll keep you. So I worked there a couple of months and they wanted me to stay; I’ve been here ever since.”

She made sure to show her gratitude to the Crumplers for providing her the career she has cherished for nearly three decades.

“They have been wonderful, John and Houston Crumpler, are two fine men to work for, and now John has retired and Houston’s son, Chip, he is in the business,” she added. “He’s vice president, and I’ve enjoyed working with him just as much. They’ve been good to me, and I, in turn, have been good to them; it works both ways.”

Working 29 years at the same company makes it easy to form a lasting memory or favorite moment in a career. While Willis couldn’t narrow hers down to a single choice, there was one event that was her fondest and it had to do with the hotdogs she cooks.

“Well, every year we have what we call a pig-pickin’ barbecue on the day when we get out for Christmas,” she said. “We have music, a little bit of dancing and a little bit of cutting up. There’s always a lot of food to eat and just spending time to fellowship with all the plant employees we hardly ever see, the ones that work across the (street) from us.

“I can’t narrow my fondest memory down to just one, there’s been several,” Willis added excitedly. “So if I had to say, every Christmas has been a fond memory every year with our pig pickin.”

Now, with the last of her days as the front desk receptionist at Crumpler nearing i’s end, the freedom of retirement will soon be here. With all that new found time looming, Willis said she already knows at least the first thing she’s going to do.

“I am going to go home and get into my recliner,” she attested. “After our pig pickin’ I’ll be mentally and physically exhausted just from having a good time walking around talking to people. But, what I really want to do with my retirement is to just keep visiting folks because we need go back to visiting.”

Those days of visiting the ones you know and love was a vivid memory from her childhood, one she hopes to bring back in her retirement.

“We used to, years ago, whenever I was a child, on Sunday afternoon, the parents all met up at one house and the kids would get out and play ball while the adults sat on the porch,” she recalled. “They’d sit and solve all the world’s problems while they were talking. I want to sit on the porch and solve some problems. I’ve also bought me some books to read, and so, I plan to do plenty of porch sittin.”

After nearly three decades, there’s been an untold number of people who Willis has worked with over the years, and the words of Sharon Bullard, the one who hired her, summed up how many feel about Willis.

“Well, she’s been here 29 years and she’s been pretty much the face of the company,” explained Bullard. “She sits at the receptionist desk and anybody that walks in the door every day, you really get to know her. The customers, they love and absolutely adore her, and she truly treats everybody like family. She’s just been here with us for many years and we’re really going to miss her.”

When it came to Bullard’s fondest memory of Willis, she noted they shared the same love for cooking, especially those hot dogs.

“She’s the one that keeps us straight that’s for sure,” Bullard said, laughing. “As for a fondest memory, it’s definitely her cooking. She even just finished cooking the hot dogs we love for the dinner we have ever year; she’s always been a very good cook.

“What else can I say, there’s so much, aside from being a great cook, she’s kind of always been like our mother figure,” Bullard added. “Her office is a center for all of us and we’ll get up out of our desk just to stretch out a little bit and go in there just to talk to her. I’ve been here for 32 years, in human resources, so I actually hired her. It’s been a joy working her with all these years; she’s definitely earned her retirement, but, she will forever be greatly missed by all of us.”

That feeling of gratefulness was a sentiment Willis shared.

“I’d like to thank Sharon. She’s a blessing to all of us and she’s the real one that keeps us all straight,” Willis remarked. “She is my adopted daughter. I’ve adopted her as my daughter and she is and will be part of me until the day I die. I hope that’s a long time away because I got some things I need to do.

”I just want to enjoy life. You know, throughout life, we get up early, go to work, go home to prepare dinner, wash dishes, wash clothes, go to bed and start over again,” she said.“It’s a cycle, but to have things in life, you have to work for it and you have to put one foot in front of the other to keep on going. If you’ve got health problems you pray about it and talk to the Lord about it and keep pushing forward.

“But, through all I’ve been through, I’m really very appreciative to the whole Crumpler family,” Willis added. “I love them and I appreciate them allowing us to keep them working so they in turn could allow us to work.”