You saw them at the 2023 Associates Week Celebration. Now get to know them better!
When a Walmart store opened in Pittsfield, Illinois, 40 years ago, Pam Moore was just out of high school, Deb Breitweiser was a newly single mom waiting tables, and Sandy Summers was looking for a job after her two boys had started school.
Little did these women know that their lives would be linked for decades to come. All three landed positions at Walmart Store 480.
Deb (pictured above) started out in receiving, unloading trucks. She became a department manager, a support manager and then worked in the invoice office and personnel, where she stayed for 36 years. After a short stint in apparel she went to housewares, eventually taking a team lead position, where she remains today, overseeing seven departments.
Sandy (pictured above) joined soft goods, then moved to receiving for several years. After being department manager of toys and pets, then the receiving manager, she moved to sporting goods, which she has managed for more than 35 years. She also oversees automotive, hardware and paint.
Pam (pictured above), now a front-end team associate, started out as a cashier then went into customer service. She spent about seven years in layaway and another 25 in accounting before moving back to the front end.
Family Ties
All three women (“the girls,” as Sandy calls them) have seen a lot of changes since they joined Walmart back in 1982—from how items are priced (everything used to be individually stickered) to how things are checked out (prices used to be entered in the register by hand).
Through it all, though, the family atmosphere at the store has remained. And it’s that sense of support that kept them there—and kept them going.
In 2017, Deb’s home was destroyed by an explosion caused by a gas leak. Worst of all, her husband was critically burnt. He underwent eight surgeries in 59 days, suffering blood clots, sepsis and pneumonia. While he was hospitalized, Deb’s manager arranged it so Deb could work mornings and then head to the hospital. When Deb’s husband came home, Deb took two months’ leave to take care of him.
Meanwhile, Deb’s friends and coworkers rose to the occasion, finding many ways to look after her: They donated money, held raffles, put on a benefit and even bought Deb a new pair of bifocals. “Anything they could do, they stepped up to the plate,” Deb says.
In a small store, you really know your coworkers, and they become an extension of your family. “It’s a blessing,” Deb believes. “We all support each other.”
“I've met some really great people along the way. Our little store is just a family‚ and I’m mama!” laughs Sandy.
Looking Back
In 2021, the associates of Store 480 helped lead the store to win the Division 1 Hometown Store of the Year for Region 25. “We just have a lot of good people in the store that make the store successful,” Deb says. “It’s just a really good close community,” adds Sandy.
Despite 40 years at Walmart under their belts, Deb, Pam and Sandy aren’t thinking about retirement yet. “You have to have a purpose to get out and go,” Sandy, who’s 71, says. “I really believe that Walmart gives me a purpose in life.”
Looking back, Sandy recalls when Mr. Sam visited. “It was amazing to me because he just seemed like your uncle who walked in the store from the farm. You’d never know he was a millionaire!”
"I'm very proud of what I've done,” Pam says. “I feel like I've accomplished a lot. I feel like the 40 years has just been a blink of an eye.”
“I honestly don't know where I would be had Walmart not come to our little community,” Deb says, noting their town has only a few thousand residents. “I feel like we were very fortunate back then in the 80s to get something that has provided a lot of people a living.”
