Dodge’s ‘Window on Main St.’ The Same for Four Decades

By Martha Slater

Marguerite Dodge recently celebrated her 88^th birthday and still goes to work each weekday morning as the bookkeeper for the family business, Randolph Auto Supply on Main Street.

Modesty is just one of the virtues of this remarkable Randolph native, who was astonished to find that a reporter wanted to write an article about her. With a cheerful attitude and a twinkle in her eye, Dodge said of herself, "I just like to keep busy and go unnoticed."

Dodge grew up in Randolph and has only lived out of town once—during the two years she attended the former Vermont Junior College in Montpelier to get a degree in home economics. Married soon afterward, she and her husband farmed for a number of years while raising two sons, Steven and Wallace, and a daughter, Nancy. She now has six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Dodge has worked at her bookkeeping job since 1963, beginning when the family business, then Dodge Auto Sales and the Dodge Oil Co., was located in the building where the Bare Mexican restaurant is now.

"I didn’t go to college for bookkeeping, so I guess you could say I got on-the-job training to do this," she said.

The office further down Main St. where Dodge has worked since 1969 is a study in contrasts. With a high, pressed tin ceiling, pale green walls and a large front window overlooking Main St., it also has a large, old-fashioned safe and a new flat-screen computer monitor.

"I don’t use the computer," Dodge said firmly. "I work the old fashioned way, although I do use the adding machine. I send out bills, pay bills, and keep an eye on the bottom line."

In addition to working at the auto parts store, Dodge bowls regularly with a senior league at the Valley Bowl, and volunteers on Thursdays at the Gifford Thrift Shop. She still drives and goes to church each Sunday in Randolph Center, at the same church she has attended since she was a child. She also likes to do jigsaw and crossword puzzles and read a lot.

"For my birthday, I got Mim Herwig’s new book, A Love Affair With Vermont Weather," Dodge said happily. "I’m really enjoying that!"

To what does she attribute her long life and good health?

"You have to keep busy!" Dodge advised. "I couldn’t handle not doing anything. Plus, my mother lived to be 96 and my family looks after me pretty well!" she added with a grin.

"I ‘retired’ over 20 years ago, but I just kept working. I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I didn’t have this job. That’s probably why Steven keeps me around here!" Dodge concluded with a laugh. "It’s a great reason to get up in the morning!"

____________