Seniors : Achievements, activities : SEAL BEACH : Rx for a Long, Healthy Career

When Esther Poskey was 26, she was unemployed and facing the daunting prospect of raising her 13-month-old daughter alone.

“I really needed a job,” said Poskey, whose husband had left to seek employment and never returned. “One of my friends said there was a sign in the window at the drugstore.”

So Poskey applied for the position at Seal Drug on Main Street in Seal Beach in 1953. What she had thought would be a temporary situation turned into a career. After 42 years, Poskey, now 68, has finally turned in her keys.

“She’s a great person,” said Bob Griffith, who bought the store, now called Bob’s Rexall, 23 years ago. “She’s a fixture on Main Street. Everybody knows her.”

(Griffith is the fifth store owner for whom Poskey has worked.)

Poskey can still vividly remember details of her job interview and first days at work. Store owner John Johnson was noncommittal, she recalled. “He said, ‘We have other people who are interested in the job. I’ll let you know.’ ”

He ended up hiring her, and she worked six days a week for $1.25 an hour, staying until 9 p.m. with Mondays off. “I was the new girl, and so I got the late hours,” she said.

Her aunt helped mind her daughter while Poskey worked. Her parents, living in Ohio, asked her to move back home, but Poskey was determined to make her own way.

“If I had come back, everybody would have said, ‘Oh, poor Esther.’ But out here in California, it was not such a big deal.”

Seal Beach made her feel welcome, and she became one of the town’s best-known citizens. On Nov. 18, 300 friends and neighbors came to her retirement party at Bob’s Rexall to thank her for her years of service.

Mayor Marilyn Bruce Hastings presented her with a plaque in appreciation of her role in helping to preserve the small-town atmosphere so cherished by the city’s residents.

“Can you imagine how many generations of Seal Beach residents her life has touched?” Hastings asked. “It’s always been wonderful to go in this store and have this sweet, wonderful, charming woman there.”

As merchandise manager, Poskey also ran the card and gift section. On her retirement, she was honored by Hallmark Co. with a plaque commemorating her years of service.

Now, with three granddaughters and two step-grandsons, Poskey looks back on those difficult early years on the job and feels fortunate. She says she bears no ill-will toward her former husband, whom she never saw again.

“I came out the best in the deal,” she said.