Ricky See started his 39-year career working for the company on June 25, 1986, which was then named Rockingham Poultry Coop. He started working for the company catching broilers for the first 15 years and then transferred to the Pullets department. After four – five years in pullets, he transferred back to catching broilers. Then in 2018, he transferred to the Groundskeeping department and is currently working there.
I asked Ricky how much has changed since he started working for the company, and he said many things have changed since then. The company and plant are have grown tremendously in size and the garage was located close to the plant area.
Ricky and I talked about the supervisors and managers he has worked for during his years with the company. He said he remembers his crew foremen Eston Ours, Roger Lewis and Thomas Kimble, and it was great working with them. He gets along really well with his current manager, Mitch Burns.
When I asked Ricky about the most memorable event he remembers since he started working, he said once they had an accident in the van on the way to a house to work one day. The roads were icy, causing the van to slide avoiding an oncoming truck and it rolled over. Some of them were taken to the hospital and fortunately, there were no major injuries. There was, however, a very kindhearted person, Scotty Ruddle, who came down to where they were waiting and kept them warm in his truck. A fond memory is of a pullet grower, who would feed them a full course meal every time they worked at her house. Once she gave Ricky and another catcher each half a pie. “And yes, we ate it all!”
When Ricky isn’t working, he keeps pretty busy! He likes to hunt, fish, ride his side by side, and keep up on his yard work. He also keeps up his 1974 Nova and enters it in car shows. He helps his mother doing her shopping and other things she needs. He likes spending time with his family, and his four grandchildren like to come over and swim in the pool. He also will do some summer yard mowing for others as well.
What does the future hold for Ricky? He wants to retire from Pilgrim’s when the time comes. When he retires, he is looking forward to having more time to do a lot more fishing and hunting.
Thank you, Ricky, for your dedication, hard work and loyalty to our Company!
About Pilgrim’s
Pilgrim’s employs more than 56,000 people and operates protein processing plants and prepared-foods facilities in 14 states, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the U.K. and continental Europe. The Company’s primary distribution is through retailers and foodservice distributors. For more information, please visit www.pilgrims.com.
