Longtime Greenwich Employee To Retire After 47 Years

GREENWICH, CT — For nearly half a century, Terry Pieczko has happily shown up to work at the town of Greenwich's Highway Division. Now after 47 years as an administrative assistant for the division, she has decided it is time to close the book on this chapter of her life and retire this month.

Though she is excited about the idea, she admitted she is also a bit nervous about it.

"It's a little scary to be unemployed after 47 years," Pieczko said to Patch. "My husband retired about a year and a half ago, and he's very anxious for me to retire so we can start our next chapter."

At least she will leave on a high note; many who have worked alongside her over the years continue to sing her praises. During Thursday's Board of Selectmen meeting, First Selectman Peter Tesei called Pieczko "an institution" in the town of Greenwich.

"For those of you who have had issues with a highway or wondered how it all gets done, know Terry Pieczko was the nerve center to getting crews out in the field and getting the job done," Tesei said. "She's really an unsung hero."

Pieczko said she was flattered by the compliment, and added that many of her co-workers refer to her as the "Radar O'Reilly" of the division, a reference to the popular "M*A*S*H" television series.

"You get an intuition to know what people need before they ask you for it, not so much with residents but with your co-workers and your bosses," she said. "You kind of anticipate and know what they're going to need, and you're right there with it. You can make them look good."

Pieczko juggles a number of responsibilities in her job, including bookkeeping, customer service and maintaining statistics for various programs. Still, the main appeal of her longtime job has been its unpredictable nature.

"You aren't doing the same type of work all the time," she said. "It changes with the season."

Though the division has accomplished much during her time working there, one project she is most proud of is the paving of Greenwich Avenue in the early '80s, which she said was the last time the road was paved.

"It was a huge undertaking," Pieczko said. "It hadn't been done for like 30 or 25 years. I wish I could see the next paving, but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen."

Still the job has presented its fair share of challenges along the way.

"You can only do so much with what you have, and sometimes we don't meet their expectations, but you can't make everybody happy," she said.

As her last day of work nears, Pieczko anticipates her co-workers will be the part of her job she misses most.

"I love each and every one of them," Pieczko said. "I have always worked with a wonderful crew."