After 48 years inside the red and white Solon Hardware store, Delores Kasper is stepping away and into retirement. Kasper isn’t just leaving behind a job, but years of time poured into the community.
“I just loved it,” Kasper said. “I just love the people, and the people I worked for were the greatest.”
Kasper’s connection to Solon spans back much further than her time spent at the store.
“I used to live by North Liberty,” she said. “Then we moved out here… and that’s how we ended up in Solon.”
Her career at the hardware store began essentially by accident. Kasper recalled how her late husband Leroy, a regular customer, noticed that the store needed help.
“He said, ‘I know of some good help… my wife,’” she laughed. “So he came home and said he got me a job.”
What started as a casual part-time job turned into nearly half a century of service. Over the years, Kasper took on a wide range of responsibilities, from bookkeeping and deposits to assisting customers on the sales floor.
“It was just whatever happened every day,” she said. “Which was a different day every day.”
In the early years, much of the work was done by hand. Kasper recalls completing hundreds of account statements manually.
“We had like 225 statements to do by hand… way back in the early ’80s,” she said.
Even with the tedious workload, it was the people who made the job worthwhile and kept her coming back.
“I enjoyed visiting with the customers,” Kasper said. “You made friends along the way.”
That sense of connection extended beyond customers to her coworkers, who became like family. After the loss of her husband, Kasper said the store became an even more important support system. Store owner Tom Trump and his mother, Carolyn, became family to Kasper.
“I really became one of the family,” she said. “I always went there for Christmas Eve… I was just family.”
Over the decades, Kasper has watched Solon grow and evolve. An increase of new residents, many drawn by the vibrant and highly regarded school system, reshaped the town’s population.
“A lot of new people came… and a lot of the older people are gone now,” she said.
Still, Kasper embraced those changes, often striking up conversations with newcomers who wandered their way into the store.
“You enjoy where they came from before, and why they came here,” she said. “A lot of them say, ‘Oh, I just moved to town,’ and then you get to know them.”
“Next week is when I’ll start feeling it,” Kasper said. “I always worked Monday and Tuesday.”
Furthermore, Kasper credits her long career not to any single factor, but to a simple mindset.
“I guess I just enjoyed being busy and liking the work,” she said.
Even as health challenges have limited her mobility in recent years, she remained committed to her role as long as possible.
Her impact on the community was evident at her retirement celebration, where a large group of Solon natives gathered to honor her years of work.
“I was amazed,” she said. “So many came… some you never expected.”
Looking back, Kasper said she is most proud of her dedication.
“Being there that long,” she said. “And enjoying everybody.”
As Solon continues to grow, Kasper’s presence at the hardware store will be missed, but her legacy lives on in the countless conversations, friendships and small moments that defined her nearly five decades behind the counter.