After Half A Century, Saint Francis Employees Excited For Retirement

Try to imagine, working at the same place for half a century, now imagine your last day, before you retire.

That’s exactly what happened Monday for two people with 50-plus year careers at Saint Francis Hospital.

Mae Collins is retiring after 50 years, and Frank Hamilton has worked there even longer, 55 years.

Their last day at work was a day of well-deserved hugs - it's like leaving the family.

"And thus it was a struggle to make the decision to retire," Mae said. “Cause I don't know what's gonna happen, I think it could be fun."

She started at the hospital in 1965 and stayed because it always felt like home. Today she's manager of catering services.

Frank manages laundry services. He was hitch-hiking to California as a 20 year old in 1960. He stopped in Tulsa and never left.

His first job was unloading trucks at the brand new hospital.

He was showing me around the laundry, which is more than twice the size it once was.

It may not be the most glamorous job, but certainly essential. Last year his crew processed more than 10 million pounds of laundry.

High on Mae's list of things to do, something she's never done, "I've never been to a movie in the morning, and I want to go to a matinee," she said.

For Frank it's a bit more basic, "I'm gonna turn my alarm off tonight if that tells you anything," he said.