Jackson`s meat man wraps up career

SENIOR SCENE
B6
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Jackson’s meat man wraps up career
sights over the years.
From Carlson’s to Gordy’s
to Sunshine Foods. From the
site of today’s Family Dollar to Ace Hardware to its
present location. From full
service to self-serve, beef
by the quarter to pre-cut
portions packed in boxes,
Pepsi bottles to cans, free
dog bones to boneless beef,
and Sunday store hours.
“I don’t think people bake
like they used to,” the 66year-old said. “Households
with two wage earners don’t
have time to cook.”
Fewer suppliers, more
complicated labels and
flashier packaging have all
become commonplace.
“Chickens used to come
packed in ice. Now they’re
all Cryo-
He counts as frie
of those people h
for, and with. The
who first called
despite living in
became one of h
friends.
“He made sur
John when he ca
they talked abou
grandkids,” C
said.
Macek taught on
his brothers, too, w
went on to manag
meat
depar
ments at Gordy’s
stores in Austin,
Wor thington
and Waterloo,
Iowa.
“The one
thing I regret
is I didn’t keep
track of the
people who
worked
with
me,” he said.
Dawn Skow,
worker who in
with Macek from
for a brief time 20
and is now back at
recalled some viv
ries of sharing t
machine and cleaning up
(or not) afterward.
“We probably have the
cleanest meat room of anybody you go to,” she said.
games, when her
boys played with his
grandsons.
“He loves his grandkids,”
she said.
”
vaced and done up,” he
said. “Poultry has changed,
pork has changed, beef has
changed, but I’m sure it’s for
the better.”
Macek’s wife Connie
by RYAN BRINKS
remembers the ChristmasStaff Writer
time lutefisk by the barrel
— and its awful smell, she
The man behind the
said.
meat counter is off fishing.
“Lutefisk used to be 29
For good.
cents a pound. Now it’s $12
That may be the best
for a 28-ounce package,”
explanation for the recent
Macek added.
absence of a face nearly
A newspaper advertiseetched into the landscape
ment from decades past that
of Sunshine Foods after
hung at his retirement open
just shy of half a century
house Nov. 28. listed other
of work.
old prices, like a twin box of
Jackson grocery shoppotato chips for 49 cents,
pers have known little
a 25-pound bag of flour for
else besides the courtesy
$1.95 and ring bologna three
of John Macek’s personal
for $1.
service behind the banner
That same advertisement
o
kson to its
bu
epartment
va
onths after
re
High School
m
ted at Carlof
Market.
ust of 1960
out of high
ek cut right
es of a meat
nderstudy.
eded a job
was an opty,” he said.
k then the
school (for
at cutters) I
ew of in the
hole U.S.
as in Pennsylvania.”
After
hat, the
nly career
crossroads
or
the
ackson
ative was
t the end
f his first
cade, the
te 1960s,
en he was
to move to
tie to the
epartment,
e strongest
n town.
“I was on the fire department and that was the biggest reason we stayed,” he
said.
He went on to put in 28
years protecting the community from fire, a short
stint considering his 48-year
career, his 46-year marriage
(and counting) and his 45year tally as the owner of
his house.
“The most you enjoy was
waiting on people — you
knew their families,” Macek
said.
And they knew him.
“They knew him upside
Customers chatted with John Macek during his open down,” Connie said, noting
that he often interacted with
house celebration and reminisced of memories, like the people new to town. “Who
newspaper advertisement that announced his promotion doesn’t go to the grocery
store?”
decades ago.
John Macek
finishes after 48
years at the job
The most you enjoy was
waiting on people — you
knew their families.
John Macek
”
“… Everybody was afraid of
him but he’s a teddy bear.”
Once when she lost her
dog, he went straight from
work searching for it every
day for three days.
A similar landmark event
in his career was the flooding in 1969.
“That was almost a nightmare for everybody in this
town,” he said.
Highway 71, which runs
in front of the store, closed
down and Macek joined coworkers in sandbagging and
building dikes.
“We worked all day in
the store and then we’d go
out and sandbag after work.
That was a lot of work then,”
he said.
Skow also knows him
through watching football
One of them he lured into
fishing, one of his passions
outside work. Whether it’s
Clear Lake, Fox Lake, Spirit Lake, Loon Lake, Round
Lake or farther, Macek is a
frequent fisher — all year
long.
He got out on the ice already in late November, his
wife said.
“I’ll just do a little fishing and enjoy the outdoors
in general,” he said of his
retirement.
He often hunted with his
boys as well.
“For hunting, you need
to know someone or ask
permission, but for fishing,
you’ve always got public accesses,” he said.
Macek has tasted some of
the freedom of retirement,
having gone
s e m i - re t i re d
about four years
ago, according to
store manager Bob
Bass.
Bass has worked with
Macek 30 of his years.
“He was Jackson’s meat
man for 48 years,” Bass said.
“He’s always been an asset
to the store. He ran the meat
department and I never had
to worry about anything.
Especially in the holidays,
to have an experienced guy,
it was great to have him.”
Customers relied on him
too.
“People call and want
John, and they ask when
he’s going to be working
next,” Skow said. “People
would ask him to grind ham
and he’d never tell them no.
He’s a customer pleaser.”
And he was a reliable
source of recipes to go with
different types of meat, a
skill that transferred to his
home life as well.
All the recipes and cook-
Photos by Ryan Brinks
Top: John Macek (left) shakes hands with a former
weights and measures coworker Gene Stene during an
open house for Macek’s retirement at Sunshine Foods
Nov. 28. Above: John Macek was Jackson’s meat manager
for 48 years before handing over the Butcher Shop to an
experienced successor at the end of last month.
ing guidelines he gave out
made him a good cook, Connie said.
“He’s actually a very good
cook when it comes to all the
meat stuff.”
After a seasoned meat
manager recently joined
the store, Macek felt it
best to hang up his hat.
His replacement hails from
Spirit Lake, Iowa, with
much experience, including
at Worthington’s County
Market until it closed.
But you can still find
Macek around town — and
out fishing.
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