Meritor Inc. is hosting a celebration in honor of its longest-serving employee, Loraine Simler, a sales representative in Meritor’s Aftermarket & Trailer division, who is retiring this month after 65 years with the company. Simler has been witness to and participated in many firsts, including becoming Meritor’s first-ever female manager in 1965 when she was named a buying manager.
She joined the company in 1946 when it was Timken Axle as a file clerk/typist. In 1953, she became a secretary in the purchasing department. It was a few years after that she became part of the company’s history. “I was the first person to use an electric typewriter at this company,” Simler says. “It made me a lot faster when it came to typing invoices. I also used the first computer here.”
After several years as a buying manager, she moved into the aftermarket parts division in 1973. Since then, she has held positions of increasing responsibility within Meritor before she settled into her current job in 1983 as a sales representative, Aftermarket. In 2006, she was rewarded for her many years of service with her own parking spot at the Troy campus.
On Dec. 14, the company will honor Simler with “Loraine Simler Day.” She will ride to work at the company’s headquarters in a limousine. She’ll be met by Chip McClure, chairman, chief executive officer and president, as well as other members of senior management, who will escort her down a red carpet into the building, which will be draped with a banner expressing thanks for her contributions to Meritor.
“Spending 65 years at the same company is something so rarely achieved these days,” said Joe Mejaly, president, Aftermarket & Trailer, Meritor. “It’s important to acknowledge events like this, and we’re excited to recognize Loraine’s time at Meritor.”
Hundreds of employees and friends will gather in the company’s auditorium from 10-11 a.m. (ET) to celebrate her career, featuring a video with more than a dozen current and former colleagues relating stories about Loraine as well as gifts showing the company’s appreciation for her years of service.
“I’ve enjoyed my time here,” she said. “I consider everyone here part of my family.”
Simler is not alone in her dedication to her job and the company. Gilbert Wilson, a hi-lift driver at Meritor’s Newark, Ohio facility, celebrated his 80th birthday in October. He hired into the Newark facility on March 31, 1952. He has 59 years of service with the company and has let it be known that he has “an eye on Loraine’s record.”
