From Part-Time Associate To 50 Short Years!
Valeda Snyder arrives in a vintage car to applauding associates as part of this touching tribute to her 50 years of service. She joined the Walmart family on Oct. 1, 1960 - hired by Bud Walton himself as holiday help at the Walton's Ben Franklin franchise in Lebanon, Mo. "And I'm still here," says Valeda, Walmart's first-ever 50-year Service Award winner. "It's been a long Christmas." She laughs whenever she tells that story, but for Valeda, now an 84-year-old sales associate at what's now the fourth Store 14 in Lebanon (a supercenter), being an associate means a lot. "I try to be an example of what a Walmart associate should be," she says. "I love helping customers. What we do is very important to them, and I try to do it right, every single day."