June 10, 2021 at 1:11 p.m.

Longest-serving county employee retires after 45 years

Johns started as student worker in 1976
Longest-serving county employee retires after 45 years
Longest-serving county employee retires after 45 years

Lance Johns, the longest-serving employee of Oneida County, called it a career June 7 after 45 years of service.

Johns, who is the son of former Rhinelander mayor Dick Johns, was feted with a send off party attended by his current and past co-workers.

Ben Rich, a patrol superintendent who was filling in for county highway commissioner Alex Hegeman, observed that a number of retirees were present to welcome Johns to their ranks.

"Quite a few generations here," Rich noted.

"They're all good people," Johns replied. "They're all good people, they really are."

"Well, we were happy to have you and we're sorry to see you go," Rich said.

"You have a speech? You would think after 45 years you would have something built up," one of the retirees asked Johns.

"I've always liked hanging around good people," Johns replied. "That's all it's been. God bless you all."

"What do I get for putting up with them for all these years?" joked Johns' wife Jane.

County board chairman Dave Hintz offered a few words of appreciation on behalf of the county.

"Lance started in 1976, that's 45 years ago," Hintz said. "I don't know how many of you were around in 1976, but that's the year Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford for the presidency. It was also the bicentennial of the country."

Retiree Steve Schramke said in 1976, he was "playing Army up in Alaska and shooting M-16 at imaginary Russians along the pipeline."

"I had always wanted to go to the Redwoods, and on one of his (vacation) trips, (Johns) decided he would go see the redwoods that I always wanted to see," Schramke said.

He said Johns made a calendar with a photo of himself standing next to a redwood from that trip, and Schramke put the photo in a rustic frame as a retirement present.

"I came 10 years after you started, and I quit 10 years before you," Schramke said. "I had enough sense to get while the getting was good."

Somebody asked Johns if he was indeed back on the night shift where he started.

"The last 4 years I've been on (the highway department) night shift, calling all the guys in, riding around checking all the roads," Johns replied.

He was also one of two men tasked with repairing and replacing all highway signs in the county.

Jane Johns thanked the retirees present for what they have done for her husband and herself over the years, especially when Lance had a spell of poor health.

"You always feel like you are part of a community here, where you're safe and it isn't just the people you work with, you're friends," she said. "And we appreciate all of you."

Johns said he backed into a career with the highway department.

"I was actually hired as one of the student workers they had back then," he said. "I went to Nicolet College and took a course in machine tool operations and run the lathe and all that. And the commissioner at the time said that there was a guy who runs the lathes that is going to retire. He said if you like working here during the summer, they would put me on fulltime in the fall."

He said he ended up going to the landfill before that man actually retired. Johns would go on to run the landfill for 22 years.

"But if there was a real bad storm and they needed people, they'd call and I'd come in and plow," Johns said. "I also had my regular beat on South 17, I had that for about 10-12 years."

As mentioned during the brief ceremony, Johns likes to travel to the Pacific Northwest.

"I travel in the fall. I like to go up into Canada and get up into the Canadian Rockies, and then I go to a little town called Bella Coola, British Columbia and watch the grizzlies fishing for salmon," he said.

The trips are solo, since his wife is not fond of travel.

"She's still working," he added.

He said his wife was 17 when he started with the highway department.

"We were high school sweethearts," he said. "Same wife, same job. I bought a house the first year I worked here and I still live in the same house."

Growing up with a father who was heavily involved in city and county government, he said he saw the sacrifice that comes with public service. While he never caught the political bug himself, he noted that he ended up in public service as a highway department employee.

"He had 56 years in politics," Johns said, referring to his father. "So between him and I, we have 101 years in."

Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].

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