news-record.com

As Labor Day approaches, Clyde O’Ferrell’s labors are over, sadly.

No man loved a hard day’s work better than O’Ferrell, who died last week at 83.

In 1996, he lost the lease on his business, Scott Seed Co., which his father founded in 1941 downtown. O’Ferrell moved it to Friendly Shopping Center in the 1960s.

At Friendly, the seed shop became an institution. Some customers wept when the store was forced to close.

Three days after the store closed, O’Ferrell went to work bagging groceries and carrying them to cars for customers of The Fresh Market at Quaker Village Shopping Center.

He would spend almost the rest of his life at that store and a newer one off New Garden Road.

O’Ferrell wasn’t just a novelty — an elderly man bagging groceries. As they had at the seed store, customers came to love him. Some wouldn’t let anyone else carry their groceries to the car.

At visitation night at Forbis & Dick funeral home, O’Ferrell’s daughter, Lynn O’Ferrell, said many people approached and told her, “A friend from The Fresh Market.”

On the day of the funeral, The Fresh Market was so appreciative of his work — and of the good will that resulted — that the company catered food for the people who came to the O’Ferrell home to pay their respects.

“He was as much a fixture at The Fresh Market as the other things associated with us, such as the soft classical music,” says Terry Windy, assistant manager at The Fresh Market’s Lawndale Drive store. Windy had worked with O’Ferrell at the other stores.

Windy says O’Ferrell loved mingling with customers. He relished getting up and having something to do.

“He had just a great work ethic,’' Windy says. “He was a product of his time. He was genuinely concerned about people. He was the type who needed to be at work.”

Granted, his daughter says, he was quicker to reach for groceries belonging to a woman than a man. A widower, he had an eye for the ladies.

“I enjoy people,” he said in 2004. “We learn to trust each other and like each other. A smile really is contagious. I’m meeting a lot of new friends.”

The interview took place a few days before Christmas. Many workers at stores everywhere — and their customers — despise the Christmas rush.

But O’Ferrell loved the pace and rhythm of the season, especially at The Fresh Market, where classical music gave way to soft carols. The busier he was, the better.

He was on the job in 2007 when a stroke had him feeling woozy and aching. But he didn’t realize what had happened and kept on working for a month or two, his daughter says.

Problems with his health became apparent eventually. He was tiring. He wasn’t as mentally alert.

His weight, which at its peak was only 130 to 135 pounds, dropped.

He never told family members that anything was wrong. But they could sense it and made him see a doctor.

He had to retire, and his health continued to fail. Famliy members took turns staying with him. Cards and notes from customers arrived daily. On days when he felt better, he’d tell his daughter, “I wish I could go back to The Fresh Market.”

As the end neared, she says, she could tell his resolve was weakening. “He didn’t give up, but there were days you could look in his eyes and tell he was thinking, 'To hell with this.’”

Life lost meaning without work. He had done it all his life at the seed store and The Fresh Market. He also had fought in the Pacific during World War II.

He was truly a member of what has been called “The Greatest Generation.”

Contact Jim Schlosser at 601-9879 or beale1@clearwire.net