Theodore Fisher Retirement

61 Years With Firm, Hanover Man Retires

HANOVER - Sixty-one years with the same firm without ever being late and working for three different generations of bosses are the records set by Theo Fisher, 80, of Hanover.  Mr. Fisher retired at the Knechtels Ltd., Furniture plant Saturday.

Mr. Fisher was born in Neustadt, the son of Andrew Fisher, a pioneer who had one of the first furniture factories in the district.  The plant was razed by fire when he was 8 and never rebuilt.

Unable to obtain a job in Tavistock where he had been working as a tinsmith, he came to Hanover an got a job with Daniel Knechtel, founder of the present firm.  Since then he has worked for J. S. Knechtel and Karl D. Knechtel.

RECALLS PLANT FIRE

Mr. Fisher recalls when Knechtel furniture plant burned on the owner's birthday in 1900.  The present plant was opened the next year on the same day.

"In the old days we worked 10 hours a day and often worked overtime till 9 p.m." he said.   "In those days we made the same style of a suite for years, now the designs are always changing."

The furniture industries wer hard hit during the years of 1930 to 1935 and the plant only operated two or three days a week.  "Those were lean years that we never want to see again," he said.

He is of the opinion that things will pick up in the near future.

Although he has worked as a "sprayer" in the finishing department since 1917, he had previously worked in the machine shop and on a bench.

SEES "NEW LIFE"

"It will be a new life," he said, of his retirement.  He was presented with a sum of money by the 40 employees of the finishing department as they quit work at 4:30 Saturday.

Mr. Fisher played the bass drum in the Hanover band for 25 years.  He lives with his daughter Mrs. Evelyn Hehn of Hanover.