• She has served Afton families for nearly two decades.
After nearly 20 years serving as a cashier in the grocery industry of Star Valley, Carolyn Wilkes retired from Broulim’s this month. Wilkes credits her parents with teaching her the work ethic and people skills to enjoy serving the public for so many years.
Born to Murray and Lucy Wilkes, she was raised in Afton and graduated from Star Valley High School in 1977. After high school, she earned an associate’s degree from Ricks College and a bachelor’s degree from Utah State University in Early Childhood Education.
Wilkes shared her sunny disposition with the children of Idaho for 13 years, teaching kindergarten, first, second and third grades in the Bear Lake School District for three years and in Rexburg with the Madison School District No. 321 for another ten years. When her father passed away, she chose to resign from teaching and return to Afton to care for her aging mother, who has also since passed away.
Working in the grocery industry has been fulfilling and enjoyable for Wilkes. “I’ve come in association with so many kind and wonderful people,” she shared in an interview with SVI Media. “I’ve learned so much from everyone – my co-workers and the people that I have had the privilege of helping with their groceries. It’s just been a really great experience for me. I will always be glad for it.”
Immediate plans for her retirement include sleeping in. “I haven’t slept in for a long time,” she smiled. She is devoted to caring for her body with physical therapy and frequent walks. Over time, she plans to include family history in her retirement activities. “I’ve never been able to do that before, and I also want to be able to do some temple work.”
Wilkes is known among her friends as a “Princess” – one of kindness and cheer. She proudly shared a book made by her friends that documents her life and family history. One page displays the headline, “She wakes up every morning with the attitude that something wonderful is about to happen.”
Wilkes attributes her joy in living and in her work to philosophies taught by her parents. “My mom, when she was still with me, would always tell me, when I would leave for work in the mornings, she would say, ‘Care’ – which is my family nickname – ‘Care, smile and make everyone happy, and I would look right at her and say, ‘But Mom, what if they don’t want to be happy?’ And she would say, ‘Smile bigger.’ I would tell her that someone got a little bit rude or something, and she would say, ‘Well, it’s better to take it out on you than to go home and take it out on their wife and children.’ And I believe that’s true, too.”
Her father taught her the value of hard work, saying “If you come home at night with a clean apron, you are not a very good employee,” she shared with a chuckle. “My dad always said, ‘You’ve got to look for the best in people, because some people hide it a little more than others, but everyone has good in them and we have to look for that, and respect them for that.’”
