'You couldn't have asked for anybody better'

Clair Dube Randlett smiles as she unwraps a retirement present. Her pink jersey reads, in part, "OMG I survived Spaulding Composites, 1973-2014. (Lebanon Voice/Harrison Thorp photos)

GONIC - When Claire Dube Randlett walked into Spaulding Composites 41 years ago to begin work in its quality assurance department, she never figured it would be the last full-time job she'd ever have.

"I figured I'd work there maybe five years and then find something else," she said on Sunday, two days after she worked her final shift.

Randlett, who worked in testing, calibration, quality assurance and numerical control during her career which spanned five decades, said her final good-byes to co-workers during an emotional farewell Friday afternoon.

"I felt both happy and sad," she said of her final day. "Happy cause I finally was retiring, and sad because I'm leaving all my family."

Claire Dube Randlett and longtime co-worker Mike Harmon enjoy a moment during her retirement ceremony on Friday at Spaulding Composites in Gonic.

Asked why she ended up staying so long, Randlett said it was location, location, location.

"I had a short commute," said Randlett, who lived in downtown Rochester when she started with Spaulding in July 1973. She later moved to Prospect Hill Road in West Lebanon where she's lived for many years.

After being presented with a gold Danbury Quartz mantel clock and cutting the first slice of a cake served in her honor in the company cafeteria, co-workers lined up to get a final hug and say their good-byes.

One of her longtime co-workers, Mike Harmon, a manufacturing engineering supervisor, said Randlett was one of the best workers he'd ever known.

Claire Dube Randlett gets her picture taken with Wayne Goodwin and Sonia LePage during Randlett's retirement party on Friday at Spaulding Composites.

"You couldn't have asked for anybody better to work with than Claire," said Harmon, who worked with her 34 years. "She always was happy to learn more about her job."

Randlett said later she was so overwhelmed by the ceremony she left work her final day forgetting to punch out on the time clock.

"I called up later and they told me don't worry about it," she said.