July 15, 2022
A few weeks ago, Cherry Republic hosted a teary going away party for our grandest employee, Phyllis Taylor. Many of you will recognize Phyllis. She has been the face of our Glen Arbor campus for 16 years — primarily greeting friends and customers in the winery. And she was the heart and soul of our staff as she trained, mentored, and hosted staff parties and outings. After a long and happy working-retirement in Glen Arbor, Phyllis and her husband Tom moved downstate last week to be close to their kids and grandchildren.
I don’t think any of us was ready to say goodbye to Phyllis, certainly not me. Phyllis was my respite during a difficult day at work — a short conversation with our octogenarian was like taking a shower of love and positive energy. No staff person was asked more often than Phyllis if she was the owner, which shows the lengths she would go to make a customer happy. And I just loved to hear all her stories. “A young honeymoon couple from Nashville were visiting and I gave them….” “I dropped a bottle of Great Hall Noir off in a room at the Sylvan Inn for….”
Phyllis was the model of all model workers. Which brings me to three generations younger than Phyllis — the teenagers and 20-somethings at Cherry Republic who she connected with like they were her own grandchildren. Colebrook and Hawthorn were lucky enough to work with her. She probably was the employee they related to the most as they grew up around the company. To have such a powerful role model for them delighted me. And that will be Phyllis’s legacy. A piece of her is in every employee here at Cherry Republic, especially our youngest. We are all better at serving our customers and each other because of her.
