After 63 years with Kroger, Larry Arnold retired at the end of February. The 79-year-old from Falls Township in Muskingum County, Ohio, worked as a dairy clerk at the Pickerington Kroger Marketplace. He started with the company in 1953, when he accepted a job as a clerk at the former Market Street store in Zanesville a week before his 16^th birthday.

Arnold decided in December to pass along his title of longest-serving current associate. “It’s just a feeling everybody gets,” he said. “They always said you know when you’re done, and I knew when I was done.”

“Kroger is grateful to Larry for his decades of service to the company and its customers,” said Kroger Columbus Division President Joe Grieshaber. “All of us with Kroger congratulate him and his family on a tremendous career, and wish him all the best in retirement.”

Larry acknowledged that leaving his Kroger team wasn’t easy. “I will miss the people — you’ll always miss the people — and I’ll miss the customers, we have nice customers up here.”