Spoetzl brewmaster’s widow still reigns at Shiner brewery
80-year-old answers phone queries, wins hearts in part-time job.
SHINER — Ruth Terpinski walks into the Spoetzl Brewery office donning ovalshaped glasses, bright-colored threads, a statement necklace and teased hair all
— of which matches her regal saunter.
And why not? Everywhere
she goes, the 80-year-old Shiner woman is treated like a queen.
But please, just call her “Ruthie” or “Miss Ruthie.”
Terpinski is a talker. She can’t help it. Everyone wants to talk to her and, sometimes, has to. Luckily, she always has a story to tell.
Perhaps the Spoetzl Brewery is where she belongs.
Terpinski takes calls from all over the world at the brewery, answering questions, giving directions and promoting the beer brand and Shiner, which is about 80 miles southeast of Austin and which bills itself as “the cleanest little city in Texas.”
By this summer, Terpinski will have worked part-time with the brewery for seven years, after one day asking a corporate officer with the Gambrinus Co., which owns
the brewery, if there was a role she could fill.
Terpinski wakes up every day with a sense of responsibility, something of the utmost importance, she said.
“I think this part-time job keeps me going and keeps the Grim Reaper away,” she said. “I hope he doesn’t come around. I like life.” And she’s quite lively. Entering a room, all eyes fall upon the 4-foot, 9-inch — and three-quarters, she’d add — lady, and suddenly the room becomes the work environment that she said gets her to return in the morning. Terpinski offers sweet hellos and childlike gazes to friends and guests, alike, acting as forms of endearment, drawing a smile from everyone she encounters.
It’s taken a lifetime to get where she is.
Terpinski grew up on a farm in Ohio. She took a job as a bookkeeper at the Old Dutch brewery in Findlay, where she met Chester Terpinski, an eligible bachelor and brewmaster and her future husband.
They married in 1958 and welcomed their only child, Casper Terpinski, the next year.
After spending the summer of 1968 in Poland, her husband’s homeland, the couple received a message advertising the open position of brewmaster at Spoetzl Brewery.
She knew the move was unavoidable.
“I didn’t want to leave,” she said. Her gaze dropped to her ring finger. “You go where your husband has to go.”
He assured her she’d be happy in Texas.
“He said, ‘Oh, honey, you’ll like Shiner. It’s a nice little town.’”
Her husband made her an offer: They would try the town out for two years. If it didn’t work out, he promised they’d move back to Ohio.
“I thought that was a good deal,” she said. “Little did I know I would fall head over heels for Shiner.”
The transition from Ohio was rocky. If not for a neighbor who told her to “get with it,” Terpinski would have stayed a recluse, spending more time playing with kittens than making friends.
Chester Terpinski was brewmaster from 1968 until 1972.
After he died in 1992, Terpinski carried on.
In her time in Shiner, she had a stint as a professional cheesecake maker. She also supported the local arts at Gaslight Theatre, drove a school bus and spent time as a playmate for children with special needs.
Anchored by a sense of responsibility she learned from farm life, Terpinski has always had a sense of duty and offered advice to younger people.
“Somebody had to take care of those children,” she said. “Learn responsibilities and be a good worker in life.”
She traveled the world, but the road led her back to the brewery.
When Terpinski asked for a job, it couldn’t have come at a better time, said Tess Liberto, a corporate officer with The Gambrinus Co. As the brewery became busier, there was little relief on the staff during lunch hours. Liberto needed to fill just a few hours each day. Enter Terpinski. “I personally think that God was involved,” Liberto said. “It was a godsend. She’s happy, and I’m happy. She’s back at home.”
Liberto relished seeing Terpinski become an employee who colorfully interacts with brewery guests on the phone.
“By the time they get there, they want to meet her,” she said. “She’s a very giving person.”
Sometimes it’s a quick yes-or-no question. Other times, it’s an in-depth conversation about what the brewery has to offer.
While continuing her husband’s legacy in Shiner, Terpinski has established one in her own right.
“It’s a wonderful, joyous place to work,” she said. “Everyone is so nice. They treat me like royalty, for which I am so blessed. Don’t know how I can be so blessed.”