Five decades of service: Dennis Brown retires from Foodland
“When are you coming back?”
It’s a question Dennis Brown hears almost daily from people he runs into around town.
“My wife, Julie, hears it too,” Brown said. “Wherever she goes, it’s ‘Is your husband coming back to work?’”
“People come up and hug me and ask, ‘where have you been?’” Brown said.
“So many people have asked, so I thought I’d better let everyone know that I’ve been officially retired as of February 3.”
“So I think it’s time to say goodbye to all of my great customers I’ve enjoyed over the years,” Brown said.
Brown certainly needs no introduction to anyone who has ever shopped at the Foodland store in Ridgetown, Ont.
He has been a popular figure in town for over five decades.
As he waited on customers at the meat counter, he always brought a smile to their faces, and they always walked away feeling they had been treated extra special.
“I know a lot of people around here; I was always there for them,” he said. “I treated it like it was mine ... I was fussy about the counter always being clean and looked after.”
Brown moved to Ridgetown from Pembroke at age 15 when his father, Bob Brown, bought the Arlington Hotel.
At age 16, he got a job at the IGA before earning an apprenticeship as a meat cutter through St. Clair College.
Brown has spent over 44 years in the meat business locally, the majority of his time at the current Foodland site, which was also known as Sanford & Son IGA.
He spent his first five years working for Bob Uhrig at Knechtel’s.
He also worked at the former Beaton’s Valu-mart for about seven years and Gabe Koldyk’s Abbatoir before both closed.
Brown was hired to return to Empire-owned Foodland by Paul Monette, who has since retired and turned the keys over to his son Pierre, who continues to run the grocery store today.
“He’s the reason I worked here for so long, we got along well, and he treated me real good,” Brown said of Paul.
Brown also worked at the family’s Brownie’s Meats in downtown Ridgetown and at Brownie’s Two bar(s) and restaurant, now called Rondeau Joe’s.
“I always worked two jobs, and when my Dad ran Brownie’s Two, it was only open for supper,” Brown said. “But we always had boaters coming by, wanting something to eat at lunch.”
Brown convinced his father to let him open early and sell subs because the deli and arcade weren’t busy during the week.
“He said, ‘here’s the first $150 he gets; the rest is yours,’” Brown said with a laugh, remembering how he got started. “I ended up with about 50 customers a day.”
After his father sold the restaurant, Brown was without a second job. Jim Hawthorne, offered an opportunity.
“He asked if I wanted to get into refereeing hockey,” stated Brown.
Brown played Midget and Juvenile in the former Ridgetown & District Minor Hockey when he first moved here and continued to play recreation as a young adult.
Two other friends offered their two cents worth about Brown putting on the stripes.
“Mark Woodley said, ‘you’ll never be a referee, Brownie, you’re always such a hot head,’” Brown said.
But another friend, Paul Kirby, stuck up for him.
“He said that I’d make a great referee, ‘he knows all the rules, he’s been in the penalty box for every rule out there,’” Brown said.
He ended up wearing the stripes for over 30 years as a referee in the RDMHA and Ontario Minor Hockey Association, eventually becoming an area assigner.
Brown also referreed in the Alliance’ AAA’ where he also served as a supervisor and for 16 years and assignor for the Kent Hockey Referees Association.
“I ended up skating 200 to 300 games a year,” Brown said.
Unfortunately, sometimes his jobs overlapped when people brought their hockey beef to his meat counter.
“I had some people come into the grocery store and make a scene over a call I made,” he laughed.
“But I didn’t mind, as long as they bought something.”
Brown had complications from a work-related shoulder surgery that forced him to miss time at work. Less than a year after he was back on the job, he was diagnosed with leukemia at age 58.
These health issues forced Brown to spend less time at work, which eventually led to his forced retirement.
Brown, who turns 61 this year, decided to hang up his knife and enter complete retirement because of his health issues.
“Hard to believe I spent 44 years doing this here in town,” Brown said. “I’ve met a lot of great people ... I’ll never forget them.”
Hundreds of people around the area feel the same way about Dennis Brown.
