Flynn Retires From Harps After 45 Years
“You can ask anyone what they think of Rick, and I guarantee it will be a very positive answer. He will be deeply missed here. He’ll do anything — empty trash. He’ll do anything and there’s a smile on his face while he does it.”
Keith White Harps Store Manager
Rick Flynn of Noel has retired from Harps after 45 years of employment.
Flynn is a man of few words. As his store manager, Keith White, said, “It’s all action for Rick.”
Flynn remembered the day he started at the store — March 1, 1973. He was 15 at the time, and Walt Farmer owned the store which was located where Arvest Bank is now. He was about 17 when the store moved to its second location next door to its first location, he said, and it has been almost two years since the store moved to its third location. Flynn said he has seen a lot of changes over the years and has seen a lot of people come and go.
White said, “Rick knows everybody by name. Rick never forgets a name. I do have people that come in that worked with him 20, 30 years ago and say, ‘Does Rick still work for you?’ He’s made quite an impact.”
Before retirement, Flynn was the head stocker at Harps.
“Rick’s the kind of guy the store can always count on,” White said. “He’s always willing to work. I’ve been here nine years, and I can’t remember him even calling in sick. He falls under dedicated associates. He’s super nice to everybody. I’ve never heard a cross word. He’s very well respected by everyone. Just a super nice guy. He’ll do anything asked of him. If he had a penny for every case of groceries he’s put up, it would be like winning the lottery. You can ask anyone what they think of Rick, and I guarantee it will be a very positive answer. He will be deeply missed here. He’ll do anything — empty trash. He’ll do anything and there’s a smile on his face while he does it.”
Flynn said his family moved around a lot in his childhood because his father was in the Army. They settled in Noel when he was a teenager. He has a pug, Trish, and they like to listen to the radio a lot and come to the store when he is not working. He is also a big Dallas Cowboys fan.
White said, “I pick him up on Thursdays, and the first thing he does is goes and buys him a newspaper. He leaves it in the break room for everybody to read.”
As for his retirement plans, Flynn said, “I’ll just stay home.” Although he noted he might take a trip to Branson with his sister.
He said he is ready to retire.
“As Rick told me, he’s tired,” White said.
Flynn said the customers are his favorite thing about the job.
“He knows most of them by name,” White said. “He just knows everybody in town.”