Jerry Mades celebrates 50 years at Pepsi in La Crosse

The 71-year-old Houston, Minn.,
man still going strong after five decades

 

When you talk to Jerry Mades, it doesn’t take long for him to either crack a smile or crack a joke.

The 71-year-old has the kind of personality everyone likes to have around. Perhaps that’s why the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company in La Crosse kept him around so long.

Today is Mades’ 50^th year with Pepsi to the date. He began as a 21-year-old working the bottling lines. Five years later he was a substitute truck driver. Three years after that, he had his own route. And, 41 years after that, he’s still going strong, though he’s contemplating retirement.

Instead, he’ll be going to work at 3 p.m. today, as usual. You may even see the company honoring him on your drive in if you look at some billboards by Valley View Mall on Highway 16 or on Interstate 90 heading into La Crosse (pictured above).

Mades said he’s been with Pepsi as long as Pepsi has had Mountain Dew. Both are 50 with the company. Technically, Mountain Dew is 51, but Mades probably didn’t notice it during deliveries right off the bat, though when he started, he was only delivering eight products. Today, Pepsi has over 700.

His favorite is Cherry Pepsi, unless you go outside the company. Then it’s Busch Light. His fridge is stocked with both.

Mades, who lives in Houston, Minn., contemplated retiring on this day, but figured he’d be too bored. Maybe it was his retired neighbor and friend David Bruha, 80, that convinced him not to hang it up, or maybe it was his wife Pat, who figured those two would get into too much trouble with all their free time together.

Mades thinks he’ll retire in the next year. Maybe. There’s one other company man with Pepsi in Idaho who’s zeroing in on 50 years in the spring. Mades thinks he’ll call him every couple months to see how he’s doing, so he can keep pace and say he was at Pepsi longer.

Mades also mentioned a truck driver he knows along his route who’s still at it at 82 years of age. Maybe Mades will be going strong for another decade, as well.

In his 50 years, Mades has never had a big accident. He said he’s hit four or five deer, but that’s it. He’s screwed up a couple deliveries, but nothing major.

He has contemplated quitting a couple times, but said he got over it, and figured there were probably people out there worse off in the world with worse jobs – or no jobs at all.

So, Mades is back at it today, heading to Dubuque, Iowa – he got a new route in March after over 40 years with a Viroqua route – for another run, before heading back to headquarters to help out in the warehouse. And, he’ll be back at it tomorrow, and the next day, until, who knows? Because, after 50 years, the next milestone is kind of a ways off.