In July, Operations Assistant Teresa Schremser announced her retirement. After serving ECI REC’s members for over 42 years, Teresa will wrap up her time with the Cooperative on September 1.

Teresa began her career with ECI REC’s parent cooperative, Buchanan County REC, in March 1979. She was an assistant billing clerk, working with three other experienced women. She has served our membership in six different roles, including costs records clerk and cost records accountant. In 1997, she carried a double title of Operations assistant and office supervisor. Teresa worked long days during that time, starting in Operations each morning and moving to the office in the afternoon.

Teresa has seen a lot of change over the years. She recalls when members read and figured their own bills. A dial-up line was needed to transmit data from a cassette tape, and Teresa’s role was to key in their data daily.

Several times in her career Teresa was called in to work outside business hours due to storm outages—once on the night of her wedding anniversary! Her husband, Bob, brought her flowers to the office. For Teresa, the most enjoyable part of her career has been serving ECI REC’s members.

“We will miss her work ethic, her dedication to the membership, and all the knowledge she has shared over the years,” said Operations Manager Tom Schmitt.

Congratulations and thank you, Teresa! We wish you all the best in this next chapter.