After 25 years of service to the cooperative, longtime customer service representative Rita Woody of the Steele BPLP plant is retiring. Since joining MFA Oil in November 1995, Woody has helped thousands of MFA Oil customers in the Southeast District with placing orders, making payments and answering questions, among other requests.
“Rita is so dedicated to her job and there is nothing that she wouldn’t try to do to accommodate our customers,” says fellow CSR Pam Middleton who has worked with Woody in the Steele office for five years. “She gives her all to our customers and I am grateful to have been able to work with her.”
Woody has seen many changes during her tenure with the cooperative. She’s worked for three different plant managers and four district managers.
“When I started with the company, we were still doing a lot of work with pencil and paper rather than computers,” Woody recalls. “We were tracking our inventory in ledger books. Things have changed a lot since then, but it’s been a great experience.”
Woody’s industry knowledge and strong character made her invaluable to Area Manager Perry Sample.
“Rita always made it a priority to do the right thing,” says Sample. “If you look at our core values, they really describe the way she has approached her job all these years. I knew I could count on her to give 110% to any task she was assigned. She will be missed greatly.”
As an example of Woody’s dedication, Sample remembers when Woody was supposed to be recovering from surgery in 2009 but instead made her sister bring her to the Steele office during an ice storm so she could deliver fresh coffee to her coworkers.
Robert Burlbaugh, director of field training and procedures, worked with Woody for several years when he was a district manager in the Southeast and would often call upon Woody for her expertise and feedback on processes and procedures at the plant level.
“Rita has been an instrumental member of the Steele plant and Southeast District,” Burlbaugh says. “Her dependability and steadfastness have been an example and encouragement for all of those who have worked with or around her.”
In retirement, Woody looks forward to spending more time with her grandkids, traveling, and the freedom to set her own schedule (including sleeping in occasionally).