Long-serving Kreamer Feed employee has seen company growth
Oct. 6—KREAMER — Lois Gehers has been employed at Kreamer Feed Inc. since June 1964, days after graduating from Middleburg High School
In the 58 years since, the company has grown from about a dozen employees to 124 who work at Kreamer Feed and its subsidiary, BJE Poultry.
"It's amazing to see the growth, and it's still growing," said Gehers who was hired as a bookkeeper and now works in organic procurement since the company added organic feed to its inventory.
She got her start with the company in part because of her close relationship with Kreamer Feed owner, George Robinson and his wife, Doris, who were neighbors in Kreamer. Gehers said she interviewed for the bookkeeping position because she knew Robinson needed help purchasing ingredients.
"I liked math," said Gehers, who worked on the company books in the Kreamer Feed Store, which opened in 1947, with a few other employees and shared the duties of working the cash register.
She recalls the store sold a wide variety of items, including feed bags, paint, tools and soda. The retail store closed in 1993 and the family opened a local Agway store where it sells farm and fleet needs, selling to commercial poultry farms and retail customers.
For decades after her office was moved out of the retail store, Gehers's worked in the main office until about two years ago when the administrative offices were relocated to the second floor at nearby Wood-Mode LLC while plans to build a larger administrative office complex on Willow Drive in Kreamer are underway.
Despite the close friendship she had with the Robinsons, including taking family trips with the couple, Gehers said the job still felt like work. Particularly when she and the other office workers had to do inventory and didn't have computers to keep track of the count.
She and her husband, Jake, were married for 49 years until his passing in 2021. Gehers has one daughter and two stepsons.
Gehers said she stays on the job because she enjoys the work and feels respected by the Robinsons.
"The people I've worked with have a lot of integrity. It's a good place to work and they make you feel appreciated," she said, adding that bonus money she was given by the company for a recent Alaskan trip has still not been spent.
Kreamer Feed is being run by a third generation of Robinsons, but Courtney Robinson, the company's communications manager, said Gehers is an integral part of the business.
"The saying here is that in the beginning there were chickens and Lois," said Courtney Robinson.
