[ad_1]
The solar poured in by way of the home windows on the Linwood Bundle Retailer on June 18, its rays bouncing off glass bottles lining the cabinets.
A crowd of relations and buddies gathered within the retailer – smiling, laughing, speaking and taking footage with Imogene Naifeh, proprietor of the shop.
They have been celebrating her ninety fifth birthday.
The group made its method to the entrance of the room, close to the register the place Naifeh has rung up gross sales of whiskey, bourbon, beer and wine for greater than 50 years. Then they hugged the white-haired household matriarch.
“Thanks a lot, thanks,” she tells them. “God bless you.”
Few folks arrived on the retailer close to downtown Oklahoma Metropolis that Friday morning to purchase liquor. As a substitute, they got here to pour out their hearts for Imogene.
“She’s cherished by everybody,” mentioned granddaughter Corie Naifeh, 20. “Everybody she’s ever met simply adores her. She’s so variety and caring and candy. ‘God bless you, Honey’ – that’s her phrase.
“I hope in the future I’m identical to her.”
‘It is complicated’:Oklahoma businesses, schools respond to new CDC mask guidance
‘She labored mainly every single day’
Imogene was born June 18, 1926, in Depew, the place she went to highschool throughout her early years. Her household moved to Oklahoma Metropolis when she was going into the seventh grade.
Naifeh’s brothers opened the American Sweet Co. in 1945. In 1954, it turned the American Mutual Co. division retailer. Whereas her brothers ran the shop, Imogene labored within the shoe division at John A. Brown, one other division retailer.
She married her husband, Richard Naifeh, in 1959. He’d been within the insurance coverage enterprise, however after Oklahoma repealed prohibition, the couple needed to attempt one thing new. So in 1968, they bought the liquor retailer.
“It was the start of liquor then,” Imogene Naifeh mentioned. “Good Lord, that was numerous years in the past.”
Richard Naifeh died after an sickness in 1974. And Imogene, with two younger kids to look after, stored the shop open.
“She labored every single day, mainly,” mentioned her son, Rick Naifeh. “She can be right here from morning till 10, when the shop closed, so she’d get dwelling at 10:30 at evening. It was some lengthy days, however she labored it.”
Extra:Why Oklahoma City is running behind on mowing city parks this year
She’s hardly missed a day of labor. She mentioned she had solely missed three days of labor in additional than 50 years earlier than having to take a while away for the coronavirus pandemic. A kind of days was for Richard’s funeral.
Through the pandemic, the shop was closed for 3 weeks. To her, that was an excessive amount of.
“She mentioned, ‘I’m not sitting on this home on my own and dying alone. I’m going again to work,’” Rick Naifeh mentioned. “She’s been right here every single day since.”
“I get pleasure from working,” Imogene mentioned. “It’s an actual good feeling. Getting up each morning is a blessing. And also you costume and also you get going, and it retains that mind working.”
She enjoys seeing folks – typically return prospects – and speaking with them.
“They grow to be a part of you,” she mentioned of her prospects. “You see them every single day, and also you miss them after they disappear for some time.”
Hitting the open highway:Kilpatrick Turnpike in Oklahoma City goes cashless Sunday
Naifeh generally passes out sandwiches to homeless prospects who frequent the shop.
“There was a man named Steve who got here in, and he solely had $3 or $4 in his pocket, and he needed to get a bottle. However he was hungry,” Rick Naifeh mentioned. “So she allowed him to purchase the bottle, however then she made him a sandwich.”
“You’ve acquired to recollect, a few of them have an issue,” Imogene Naifeh mentioned. “You do really feel for them.”
Imogene’s relations respect her because of this. Regardless that she’s a diminutive determine – barely above 4 ft tall – they are saying she has a larger-than-life persona.
And so they say they appear as much as her, despite the fact that their eyes could also be pointed downward.
“She is wonderful, and she or he has extra drive than anybody I’ve ever met,” Corie Naifeh mentioned. “She will get up sooner than anybody I do know, and she or he’s simply the toughest employee. It’s unreal watching her.”
‘It is a part of my life’
Imogene has lived in Oklahoma for many of her 95 years, and she or he’s a longtime member of the St. Elijah Orthodox Christian Church.
“It’s a part of my life,” she mentioned.
So is the church’s pastor – the Rev. John Salem – who got here to the liquor retailer to hope over Imogene and lead the gang in singing “God Grant You Many Years.”
“Life is valuable, and she or he actually takes every single day – every single day – to its fullest,” Salem mentioned. “She checks in on all people, and all people locally checks on her. She’s there for everyone. No matter she’s acquired, she paid ahead many occasions.”
Will Oklahoma homes of worship return to COVID security protocols? Some never ceased such measures
Conserving it within the household
Corie Naifeh mentioned she plans to purchase her first drink from her grandmother when the time comes, however she’s not but positive what she’ll choose.
“I feel she’ll level me in the suitable route,” Corie Naifeh mentioned. “She is aware of so much about it.”
Or does she?
“Me? I don’t drink in any respect,” Imogene Naifeh mentioned. “I don’t look after it. Oh, no. My son wish to see me drink just a little crimson wine, however I don’t even do this. I promote it, however I don’t drink it.”
Her son contends that, one New 12 months’s Eve, the household had some bubbly alcoholic drinks with Imogene. However that was years in the past.
‘Individuals love tamales’:Cultural cuisine helps OKC church raise money for repairs
So what occurs when folks ask for drink suggestions?
“I placed on a very good present,” Imogene Naifeh mentioned. “I act like I do know, however I don’t. They ask me in regards to the wines, I’ll give you a solution. I hope it’s proper.”
She nonetheless will get up and goes to work within the mornings – solely after she completes her morning routine, that’s.
She says that’s the important thing to an extended and blissful life.
“God’s been good to me,” she mentioned. “Day by day is a blessing. For each door that closes, God opens one. I’m blessed. Each morning, I thank God for an additional day.”
[ad_2]
Source link
