Woman with special needs retires after 50 years with Deseret Industries

Woman with special needs retires after 50 years with Deseret Industries

(Liesl Nielsen, KSL.com)


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SALT LAKE CITY — Nearly 50 years ago, Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. Two years prior, Susie Jordan began work at Deseret Industries in Salt Lake City.

As a lifelong Salt Lake resident, Jordan began work at Deseret Industries on Jan. 16, 1967, just a year after graduating high school. It was on Jan. 19, 2017, that she completed her last day there after 50 years and three days of hard work.

Deseret Industries hosted a luncheon for Jordan Monday afternoon to commemorate her years of dedicated service.

Family and friends came to celebrate Susie Jordan's 50 years of work. Photo: Liesl Nielsen
Family and friends came to celebrate Susie Jordan's 50 years of work. Photo: Liesl Nielsen

Susie Jordan, 70, was born with some learning disabilities, according to her sister Faye Wade, and was unable, at first, to continue school as she found herself falling slightly behind the other students. Her mother, Margaret Jordan, however, worked hard to find her daughter a good tutor and she started learning along other students with her same needs.

When Susie Jordan was 10, she contracted bulbar polio, which added to her challenges, but she continued working hard. By the time she was in high school, the schools had begun integrating students with special needs, Wade said.

After high school, Susie Jordan commenced work at Deseret Industries at the main facility in Salt Lake City known as Welfare Square.

“She is probably one of the most dedicated people you will ever meet,” Jordan’s former job coach trainer Rachel Wininger said. “She is here every day and her punches are perfect, right in at 7:30 and right out when she’s supposed to be. Everything she does is so orderly, very matter of fact, but then she’s also so nice and so kind to everybody that she works with.”

Courtesy of Jonathan Wade
Courtesy of Jonathan Wade

While there, Susie Jordan made lifelong friends, many of whom also had special needs and have already passed on. According to Susie Jordan, she would get together with her friends every payday and go out to dinner, go see a movie, play miniature golf or go bowling.

“I think what really tied her in were some friendships she acquired,” Jordan’s brother, Ted Jordan said. “Some of them have passed away through the years, but that was probably the best thing (for her there). I still feel she had enough skills and she could have worked for a lot of employers and made a lot more financially, but I think her dedication and love for The Church (of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and ... especially her friendships helped her realize that that was a lot more important than money.”

Eight of Jordan's nine siblings were able to make the luncheon and, in a moment of serendipity, realized that their father is featured in one of the photos on the wall (the man on the right in the white apron). Photo: Liesl Nielsen
Eight of Jordan's nine siblings were able to make the luncheon and, in a moment of serendipity, realized that their father is featured in one of the photos on the wall (the man on the right in the white apron). Photo: Liesl Nielsen

For many years, one of Susie Jordan’s friends would pick her up for work each day and take her home. When he passed away, she learned to use the bus system and found her own way to work every day. In fact, according to Wade, her sister is a UTA expert, a truly stunning accomplishment, even for the most seasoned Utahn.

“She’s an unbelievable person, she’s a woman without guile and she’s a very hard worker. She’s been such an example to all of us,” Wade said.

Susie Jordan’s employers, as well as her friends and family, say that she never complains and is always happy and willing to try new things. She will often train people who have recently started working at Deseret Industries and is “a fountain of knowledge.”

“I think that she likes the environment and the people and she likes what she’s doing,” said Eric Hanson, the assistant manager at the Deseret Industries branch where Susie Jordan works. “She knows that what she’s doing is helping other people. She just has that mindset to be consistent and she knows she’s making a difference … and it’s really interesting to flip through the pictures (in some of the manuals) and she’ll be in some of the pictures and I’ll think, ‘Wow, she’s been around a long time!’”

Photo: Liesl Nielsen
Photo: Liesl Nielsen

Susie Jordan was most recently involved in clothing processing and pricing of domestic items, something she was exceptionally good at. In fact, according to Hanson, the “domestic area” at the branch had a very good year in sales and part of that success was attributed to Susie Jordan and the exceptional job she consistently performed.

“My favorite part of the work that I did was sending out good stuff to people and they could buy it,” Susie Jordan said. “I always believed in nothing with hair on it or nothing that looked bad, I tried to send the very best out. That was my favorite thing to do was send out the very best.”

Courtesy of Jonathan Wade
Courtesy of Jonathan Wade

Susie Jordan loves “the spirit” at Deseret Industries and appreciated the times she would see former co-workers or people from her church shopping there. She also enjoys a good basketball game and is an avid University of Utah and Jazz fan, though she’ll root for BYU too as long as they’re not playing Utah.

“She can’t read the paper, so I set her up with a TV,” Ted Jordan said. “She calls me to know when the games are on TV because her budget doesn’t allow her to go to the games live, so whenever a Utah game or a Jazz game are on… she’ll call me at half-time and say, ‘Boy! Aren’t they doing good!’ It makes me happy and it makes her happy.”

And after 50 years of hard work at Deseret Industries, Susie Jordan also feels satisfied with a job well-done.

“It’s what you’re there for, to work. So I like to keep busy and just keep doing my job, that’s what the Lord wants you to do,” she said.


Liesl is a web reporter at KSL.com, section editor for KSL's Tech and Science section and a student at Brigham Young University. You can email her at lnielsen@ksl.com.

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