After retiring from a busy career with Interior Health, Clifford Daly just wasn’t quite ready to slow down, and took a short-term job at Walmart . Twelve years later, the 76-year-old is still at it.
“I go nuts looking at four walls. I don’t watch TV, so I have to be out,” said Daly.
Daly finds himself working five days a week at Walmart in the back section of the store (the photo centre, electronics, hardware and sports).
“You’re out, you’re meeting people, you’re helping people, you’re active, you’re still involved. You’re doing something.”
After work, he has his supper, preps his things for the next day — “I’m one of those people that likes to be ready ahead of time” — and plans his next photography trip, something he tries to do once a month, weather permitting.
Born in 1947 in Scotland — a place he describes as “still cold and rainy” — Daly worked as a nurse before moving to Prince George in 1974 to work at the hospital. He learned to turn left and stay on the right side of the road, he chuckled, but more importantly, he met his late wife, Jennifer Penner-Daly.
The couple met at church and married in 1977. She worked at Simon Fraser Lodge, and in 1978 and 1980, their children Heidi and Allistair were born. In 1980, they moved to Williams Lake, where Daly took a job at the Child Development Centre. Their remaining two children, Hilary and Hannah, were born in 1983 and 1985. Jennifer became a homemaker.
“She was the one that made the house a home. She was the one there for the kids coming home from school and things like that,” Daly reflected. Jennifer passed away last year of COVID, something that still feels raw, he said.
In Williams Lake, the family kept busy, Saturdays being their catch-up day and Sundays being for family (which meant no phones or shopping). Sometimes they’d visit Quesnel or Kamloops, giving their children adventures close to him.
The family also spent a year in California attending seminary, and in 1987, moved to Panama, doing missions with the Mennonite Brethren church in public health. Panama was trying to develop sustainable public health programs for people living in rural areas, as many could only access Panama City by canoe, said Daly.
After the United States invaded Panama, shifting the political situation and safety of the country, the family returned to Williams Lake in 1991 and Daly began working with Interior Health for the next 17 to 18 years. For some of those years, he worked from Kamloops, after his three eldest children had graduated. However, “money is not going to buy you everything. Family is more important,” Daly said.
Once he retired, he took some time off, applied for his short-term job at Walmart and before you know it, 12 years later brings him up to today.
When asked about his experience at Walmart, he said it’s always been a positive one, challenging at times, but every job has change and challenges, so you take it one day at a time.
“I go for the very old philosophy. It’s not Walmart that pays my wages; it’s the customer. If there’s no customer, there’s no stores, if there’s no store, there’s no job. So, you wanna be helpful, and it’s in my nature anyway.” Daly explained.
“If somebody needs help, you want to be there and help them. If you’re driving down the road and you see somebody pull over with a flat tire, you know, you could pull over and see if you can call BCAA or something like that.”
The happy retiree — still working, taking photos and spending time with his children and four grandchildren — said service has always been a part of his life.
“I’m always out there to promote health and friendships and get to know different people and different cultures … There’s always challenge. Challenge is not something that is bad and adversarial. Challenge is just a new horizon.”
