June 13, 2022 at 11:47 a.m.
Half a century at Save More for Don Jung
Half a century at Save More for Don Jung
By Kelly Holm-
"I started with Save More on March 1 or 3 - I can't remember - in 1972," Jung said, "and I've been here ever since."
Jung has lived in the Northwoods since 1960, when his family moved from Wausau after buying a resort, and graduated from Rhinelander High School. He worked at A&P for 10 years (now the location of Glik's) alongside his good friend Al Zeinert, whom he ultimately followed to Save More.
There, Jung wore many hats, starting with cashiering and bagging, occasionally bookkeeping, and eventually, store management. While his pal Zeinert, then a manager, left and went on to form Al's Lakeland Foods, Jung stuck around.
"We had one manager in between, after Al, and then I was store manager. I worked a lot of hours - I mean, seven days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day," he said. "I had different responsibilities as far as ordering and building displays and all that."
Nowadays, Jung says he doesn't have much of an official title - as physical limitations have crept up over the years and he doesn't perform some of the physical duties, such as cart runs and shoveling snow, that he previously did, he said perhaps his position now is "supervisor."
"I do a lot of paperwork and things like that for other departments, so they don't have to do it," Jung said. "I've been store manager, assistant manager, cashier, bagger - now it's just doing what I can do."
Save More isn't the only place you'll find jung - his family also runs three resort cottages on Harshaw's Birch Lake, one of which his father originally built in 1959.
"(That initial cottage) was sold and resold, and I kept telling that (last) owner that if he ever wanted to sell, to give me (the) first chance (at) buying it," he said. "My dad was number one, I'm number five now."
Jung's wife Betty manages reservations at Jung's Birch Lake Cottages, while his son does outdoor work, and his grandson helps with the resort's online presence. His family includes children James (Jessica French) and Diane (Tony Borden), grandchildren Sydney, Kyle and Neil, and great-grandchildren Max, Sloane, Landry and Harper.
Jung aims to keep himself busy - he does not intend to leave Save More anytime soon, saying that many people he's known have retired only to wind up six feet under within a few years. He expressed gratitude for the ways he's gotten to know the community through Save More within the last five decades.
"The people in the Lakeland area - winter, summer, tourists - are very nice to work with," he said. "I've never seen a community that has such nice people. They come in, they call you by name."
Kelly Holm may be reached at [email protected].
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