Sunday, August 3, 2008

The sweet life...

You don't hear about this kind of dedication very often these days. After 43 years with Publix, Danny Farnham is finally retiring from Publix. Last weekend, Bill and I went down to Lakeland to document Danny's surprise retirement party. It was really heartwarming to see how much everyone cared about him, and how much he'll be missed.





The Publix bakery did a great job on this wonderful cake. Too bad I never got to taste it. I'm sure it was delicious.


Two of Danny's friends and coworkers planned a very elaborate story to get him to the party without knowing what was going on. He had no idea what was going on until he walked up to the building, and he was very surprised.





Other Publix employees made a 3D styrofoam illustration of Danny and his wife (my mom, for those of you who recognize her from Jodi's wedding pictures) on his Harley. It was HUGE!




This next series has a story behind it. Okay, so most of these photos have stories behind them. There were more than a few stories being told that night. But for these next few, Danny is a big fan of Coca Cola. Saying that he drinks a lot of it is putting it mildly. So when he pulled out a Pepsi box, a ripple of exclamations ran through the crowd. Danny doesn't drink Pepsi... under any circumstances.


But he was ordered to open the box...


And sure enough...


It was Coke!




It was a little emotional saying thank you and goodbye. I was a little choked up listening. There was so much admiration in the room.



He got a standing ovation at the end of the night.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, great pictures and great post. Wish James and I could have been there. Congrats again Danny, you deserve a long and relaxing retirement! Can't wait to see all the pictures.

NJF said...

Thanks Dawn, these are great and I love the narration. I will forward the link to Lori. Love Mom & Danny

Unknown said...

Dawn, the pictures came out GREAT!! Thanks for sharing, I would love to see the rest of them. Danny will be missed! I hope him and your mom enjoy there retirement!

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