Allen Organ Company recently honored one of its employees for obtaining the milestone event of 60 years of employment.

Betty Fenstermaker started with Allen in July 1959 and has been continuously employed by the company since.

In 1959, when Fenstermaker joined Allen, Dwight Eisenhower was president of the United States, the average price of gasoline was $0.31 per gallon, Jackie Robinson recently retired from baseball and the Space Race was on with the Soviet Union’s Sputnik program.

At Allen, Fenstermaker has worked in various capacities, beginning as an assembler, later becoming a group leader and then the supervisor of the final assembly department, a position she currently holds. Throughout this time period, sound producing technology has dramatically changed, beginning with vacuum tubes, morphing into transistors and then digital technology that Allen Organ Company pioneered.

Manufacturing technology has also morphed from hand assembly through to computer automation.

Longterm partnerships between employees and Allen Organ Company are not unique. Fifteen employees have reached the 50-year employment tenure, with four still employed at Allen. However, Fenstermaker is only the second to reach the 60 year employment anniversary. In addition, Fenstermaker’s late husband David worked at Allen for 40 years prior to his retirement, giving the couple a combined 100 years of service to the company.

Such longterm relationships benefit not only employees, but also the company and its customers who receive better quality products from a dedicated workforce.