By Patricia Beech-
After 37 years as Operations Manager for the Adams County Manor nursing home, Rick Houser has retired, effective Feb. 15.
In a phone interview with the Defender earlier in the week, Houser said he was proud of the legacy he established while he was at the helm of the nursing care facility.
“That’s all you can hope for,” he says. “That you hand down a good product to the people who come after you so they can continue to build on the work you’ve done.”
Houser is the author of two books (“There Are Places I Remember” and “Memories are from the Heart”), and he also writes the weekly column, “The Good Old Days” for The People’s Defender.
He says he has no intention of slowing down in retirement.
“I plan to continue writing my weekly column and doing additional freelance work because I’m always interested in expanding my reader base,” he says. “I’m curious about what others think, and I’m always looking for more story ideas.”
He says spending time with friends is a great resource for a writer.
“I’d like to find me a Coffee Klatch up town in a restaurant, or grocery store, or gas station, where you and a group of friends gather together to drink coffee and solve all the world’s problems,” he says. “I remember scenes like that in my most distant childhood memories and it’s a wonderful place to find stories.”
Houser’s writing recently got him noticed by a national publication – the Burpee Seed Catalog.
“I’d written an article about how bad the winter was and that I was reading the Burpee Seed catalog just to see some color,” he says. “ Apparently, the CEO of Burpee Seed saw the article and sent me an email asking if he could use quotes from it for advertising in their petunia section.”
In addition to his writing, Houser plans to spend time working for his local Historical Society and focusing on his hobbies – refinishing antique furniture and gardening.
A resident of Clermont County, he says he’ll miss his co-workers and the many people he’s met over nearly four decades while working in Adams County.
“It’s the people who work there who make the Manor a home for others,” he says. “I’ve come to know more people in Adams County than I do in Clermont County, and I’m glad the people of Adams County have taken me in as one their own.”
Houser and his wife of 47 years, Sharon, live near Bethel, Ohio, not far from the farm where he grew up. They have two children and five grandchildren.
“I’m 69 years old now, and I didn’t think I’d see that, but I’m here,” he says. “I’ve got the three best things going – I was born a baby boomer, I was born on a farm, and I still live in the country.”