She was hired in high school, and 50 years later still works for Riley’s Furniture

At the same time, C.J. Griffiths, whose husband owned Riley’s Furniture and Mattress in Monroe, wanted to leave her job there and stay at home with her young daughter.

Talk about timing.

Kowanick sat down with G. Riley Griffiths, owner of the business, for a job interview.

He asked one question: “Do you smoke?”

“No,” she answered.

“You’re hired,” he said.

That was on March 3, 1975, and now, more than 50 years later, Kowanick is still employed there.

During that time, Kowanick, 68, has been through three marriages, two divorces, lost one husband to esophageal cancer and buried a 24-year-old son, Michael.

Through it all, Riley’s has been her one constant.

“Very blessed, and very thankful” is how she described her 50-year career that has no end date.

She said the men at Riley’s are like her brothers, and the females are like her sisters.

“This feels like home,” said Kowanick, who lives in Monroe. “I like my job. We have fun here.”

When she tells someone who doesn’t know her work history that she has held the same job, at the same business, for 50 years, they ask, “Are you insane?”

“I don’t see it as working for 50 years,” she said.

During those 50 years, she mostly worked in the office, but spent several years in the service department and even delivered a water bed once to a Monroe customer.

Regardless of her job, she often thinks about a motto at Riley’s: What Would Riley Do (WWRD).

“He taught me a lot,’ she said. ”How to work a calculator, how to balance my checkbook. I was just a kid back then."

Griffiths often told his employees that God was first, followed by family. Business was a distant third.

She has missed one or two days of work a year. That’s less than 100 days in 50 years.

“I’m dedicated or stupid or both,” she said with a smile.

Shannon Bannerman, who took over ownership of the furniture store after her father died six years ago, said there are numerous employees who have worked there for more than 20 years.

But Kowanick is the longest, even longer than Griffiths who worked for 49.5 years before he died in 2019.

Bannerman said Kowanick’s longevity “adds an element to how special we are and Dad was. The loyalty that human has is incredible.”

And to think it all started with one question.