A Washington County employee clocked out after 35 years in the secondary roads department Friday.

An open house celebration was held for Maintenance Superintendent JP VanSickle, who worked in the position for a decade with 25 years of experience operating a motor grader near Keota prior to that. Secondary roads was a bit of a family tradition for VanSickle as he applied for the job when his father Bill retired from the department. VanSickle remarked that his departure hadn’t quite set in yet, and that he was going to miss working with the department staff that made the job a pleasure. Though he won’t spend too much time relaxing following his final day of work, “Oh, I’m going to keep moving, I already got a job, I start on Monday, but I’m not going to tie myself down to anything so I can fish when I want to and go hunting when I want to and enjoy retirement.”

John Wagner is succeeding VanSickle as maintenance superintendent, which he says Wagner will do a great job and possibly bring more innovative changes to come as he’s worked for the county for 25 years.