Giltner native was first hire at Aurora Iams pet food plant
There’s probably not one local resident who knows more about the history of the production pet food in Hamilton County over the past four decades than Teresa White. The Giltner native, who has worked at the Mars Petcare production facility west of Aurora since before it even opened, retired last week after 40 years with the company.
In fact, White was the first employee hired by the Iams pet food company when it began building its second production facility near Aurora in 1984. (The first IAMS, Eukanuba plant was built in Lewisburg, Ohio six years earlier in 1978.)
“The plant was still in the process of being built when I was hired on,” White recalls. “So it was Dick Buchy (maintenance manager and construction supervisor) and John Polson (VP of Western Operations) and me, and we were at the old chamber office in Aurora. I started June 4, and they were building this so I watched the whole place as it progressed. Of course it was a lot smaller then.”
Hired on initially as the plant’s first secretary, White was just one of three people working in the original Aurora office. She expressed great admiration for both Buchy and Polson, but said she had her moments of doubt at the very beginning.
“He was a big guy,” White said of Polson. “I remember my first day I walked into the chamber office and he was at the back door standing up in the framework smoking a cigarette. I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, what am I getting myself into?”
During her early years with the plant, White also became acquainted with Clay Mathile, who had purchased the company from its creator Paul Iams and would eventually go on to become its CEO and sole owner.
“He was an awesome man!” White recalls. “Lewisburg was his first plant and we were the second plant, and he just wanted to know everybody’s names, so when he went to all the plants he knew you personally. He was a great guy and was out here quite a bit.”
According to interpretive materials at the plant’s reception area, Mathile was drawn to Aurora because of its proximity to material suppliers and the ready availability of shipping products to the west coast.
White said she has witnessed many changes over the years, including a major expansion of the facility which took place in 1987-89, and another in 1996-97 which doubled its capacity. The facility has gone from just three employees at the very beginning to approximately 245 associates today and it continues to grow. However, White said the biggest challenges came when the plant went through acquisitions, first by Procter & Gamble in 1999 and then by Mars Petcare in 2014, because every company brings in new software and new ways of doing things.
Since her hiring as the plant’s first secretary in 1984, White has progressed through various positions including executive secretary, purchasing administrator and now she retires as site admin.
When asked if she would miss the job after so many years, White became emotional.
“Oh, yeah. Yeah, because I’ve been here more than I’ve been at my home. I have relationships with everybody. I love the people; love working with the people. I’ve got some close ties.”
Retiring at the same time is White’s boss, Brad Springer, who has worked for the company for the past 33 years. Springer, who is the plant’s IE manager, is also from Giltner, having graduated from GHS one year behind White. He lives in Grand Island. Replacing White will be Brenda Humphrey.
Born and raised in Giltner, White is a graduate of Giltner High School and was baptized by the same priest who baptized her two children, Trevor and Chelsea. (The three of them were all born at Mary Lanning Hospital in Hastings as well.) After marrying her husband, Rodney, they lived in Aurora for several years but eventually moved back to the Giltner area where they built a house adjacent to her parents’ farmhouse where she still lives. Later she bought 109 acres of farm ground where she keeps her horses. White says she plans on spending more time riding those horses now that she is retired and hopes to get back into trail riding. She also noted she has lots of fences to fix.
White also said she hopes to spend more time with her children and grandchildren. Son Trevor lives in Lincoln and her daughter Chelsea is married and lives in Chicago. She has three children and another expected in October. White also has two stepchildren. Jeremy White is married and has two children and Lisa (Stanton) is married and has one child.
White also has siblings nearby as her two sisters and a brother still live in the area.
“I’ll be helping with my grandbabies,” she said. “I hope to be doing a lot of horseback riding and getting back into into my trail rides... I’ve got a lot of housework to do. I’d like to get back into pickleball and I’m just planning on getting into small groups and enjoying life and traveling. So I’ve got a lot on my bucket list that I want to get done before I’m really old. I’m just looking forward to retirement. One door closes and another door opens, so we’ll see what’s on the other side of that door.”