The CITY Superfan Taking Pride in Her Work

Posted on: June 25th, 2020 by Emily Novotny | No Comments

It’s not every day you’ll meet an employee who passionately collects items connected to the company they work for. Marie Suhr, however, has made it her mission to find CITY items from past and present, showing how much pride she takes in working for CITY.

 

“I love collecting everything CITY because I like my J job,” Marie said. “Every time I go to different places, if it has CITY on it, I’ll buy it. I have gone to auctions, asked retired employees for items and kept things that were given to me by the Wetlaufer [founding] family.”

 

 

Today, Marie has right around 300 items related to CITY’s history in her collection, although she says she has lost track of how much there really is. Everything from rare calendars from the 1970s to her most prized possession, a 1954 CITY ruler that CITY’s current President Colin Wetlaufer once tried to buy from her. She enjoys exploring CITY’s history through collecting.

 

 

“I am always amazed about the things you can find,” Marie said. “So many things I didn’t even know they made. I have a CITY basketball hoop, who would have thought?”

 

 

 

Her first items were key chains and pens thrown from a CITY truck at a local parade. One of the things she most remembers is not very old at all but remains one of her favorites. A mid-2000 water bottle, simply stating “Thanks for going the extra mile.” It was given to production employees, by a supervisor, as an appreciation for the hard work Marie and her colleagues were doing on the plant floor. For Marie, it speaks to why she has been at CITY for almost 20 years.

 

 

“The Wetlaufer family cares about their employees, and we matter,” Marie said. “It’s the people that make a difference here. Everybody is nice and friendly, and we try to do the best we can.”

Since her start 18 years ago, she has become CITY’s current longest-tenured production employee and prides herself on knowing every part of the operation. Last year she got the opportunity to start the job she most enjoys at CITY, the mending stations, which is making sure uniforms are repaired correctly.

 

“I enjoy making sure our customers get great uniforms and I get to make them look presentable again,” Marie said. “If it needs to be patched, I’ll try to make the patch look nice. If it needs to be sewed, I always try to do the best I can to make it look brand new.”

 

Marie also owns a large collection of photographs from CITY’s 2006 100th anniversary party and the installation of the new steam tunnel. She is proud to work for a company with a rich history in Eastern Iowa and now embraces a new generation of employees at CITY.

 


“I enjoy helping people, be it our customers or training our own employees,” Marie said. “I want them to feel the same connection to CITY as I do, and hopefully they can stay as long as I have.”

 

To join Marie and become part of the CITY family, visit our now hiring page or contact our Human Resource department at 800.798.5621.


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