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A Texas woman retired this month after working for 74 years in sales for Dillard's department store — never once missing a day or calling in sick.
Melba Mebane, 90, started her career in 1949 as an "elevator girl" at the Mayer & Schmidt department store in Tyler, Texas, which Dillard’s acquired in 1956.
"Melba sets the tone for everything, every expectation, every customer service quality that we look for in a luxury experience," James Saenz, store manager of Dillard's in Tyler, told Fox News Digital.
"She provides all of it to the team. Can you imagine how many people she coached and taught and trained to aspire to be more?"
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"It’s just amazing to think of how many people's lives she touched," he added.
"She's not just a salesperson. She's a mother. She guides you. She gives you advice on life. She’s amazing."
Melba Mebane poses for the camera at her retirement party after leaving her job at Dillard's in Tyler, Texas — where she worked since 1949. (Terry Mebane)
Melba Mebane said she enjoyed working with "great ladies who love to eat, laugh and cut up," in a statement she shared with Fox News Digital.
Those "great ladies" include Ginger Wimbs, someone she worked with for the past 33 years.
"She's my dear friend," Wimbs said of Mebane.
"She tells it like it is. I admire her tremendously. She's taught me so much. She is so talented with clients. She can take a tiny sale and turn it into a huge sale. She just fascinates me. She works and works and works the floor. She keeps everybody talking. She keeps everybody laughing. Some of her stories are just fantastic."
Melba Mebane said that while she was on the sales floor, she "enjoyed seeing everyone she knew" — and Wimbs confirmed it.
"She loves people and she loves to work," Wimbs said. "I think she has met so many different people throughout her years here. They're true friends to her because they love her so much."
During her career, Melba Mebane was a single mom. She raised her son, Terry Mebane, now a financial adviser in Tyler. He has fond memories of his mother’s hard work, he said.
Melba Mebane and her son Terry Mebane attend Melba Mebane's retirement party after she worked for 74 years at a Dillard's department store. (Terry Mebane)
"I rode the bus in the afternoon to my grandparents' house because my mom not only loved her job, but we obviously needed her job," Terry Mebane said.
"There were times that I would get my grandfather to take me up to the store at about 7 p.m. and I would get to kind of run around the mall or the store and hang out with her so that I could ride with her home at nine o'clock," he continued.
"It was really fun times. I grew up in Dillard’s."
After about six months of working the elevator, Mebane was promoted to the men’s clothing department and then to cosmetics — where she remained for the rest of her career, Terry Mebane said of his mother’s professional milestones.
Melba Mebane said she enjoyed working at Dillard's with "great ladies who love to eat, laugh and cut up."
"They had a person sick and she got to fill in, in cosmetics," Terry Mebane said he was told about his mom's job.
"There was a gift basket they were trying to sell, and nobody could figure out how to sell these gift baskets. My mom, very unorthodox, stepped out from behind the counter in the aisle and would talk to people and introduce them to the basket, and she sold all the baskets."
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Manufacturers learned of Melba Mebane’s exceptional sales reputation.
They would send her "gratis" bottles of perfume in order to get her interested in promoting their products, her son said.
Melba Mebane, who worked for over 70 years at Dillard's in Tyler, Texas, recently celebrated her retirement from her job, which she began as an "elevator girl" at the department store. (Terry Mebane)
He remembers his mother having many perfume samples and bottles around the house and said she loved giving them to her friends and family.
"Chanel, Coco, Liz Taylor," Terry Mebane said. "I don't know how many different ones we had in the hallway closet. And she loved giving them away."
He added, "Our pastor called her the cosmetic bootlegger because on the way out of church, she would hand him samples as he was taking her hand and telling her to have a good day. She loved getting him ‘fixed up.’"
"The store would open at 10 and she wanted her parking spot, so she got there between 9 o’clock and 9:15," said Melba Mebane's son Terry Mebane. "She was the first person in the door and had her counter ready." (Terry Mebane)
Melba Mebane was the heart of the store, Terry Mebane said he’s been told.
She even became close with the corporate leadership, including members of the Dillard family.
"When the management team got off the private jet and they drove over to Dillard's to critique the store, which was very common, they stopped at Mom's counter and would end up getting into stories and hugging," Terry Mebane said.
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"My mother was good friends with Mr. and Mrs. Bill Dillard. They just adored her for being there all those years. So bottom line, the store managers would say, ‘Hey, the Dillards are going to be here on Thursday. Somebody call Melba because she's got to be here when the Dillards are here.' She was like a buffer."
Melba Mebane poses for a photo with Drue Matheny, vice president of Dillard's, who came to celebrate for with Mebane during her retirement party. (Terry Mebane)
Terry Mebane said he's always been inspired by his mother’s work ethic.
"She's a grinder," he said. "The store would open at 10 and she wanted her parking spot, so she got there between 9 o’clock and 9:15. She was the first person in the door and had her counter ready. She did the prep work."
He added, "She only took 30 minutes for lunch. She brought her lunch, went upstairs to eat lunch in 25 minutes, and then she was back on the floor because she knew that people often took off [during] their lunch hour to come to the mall to buy what they were going buy, and she didn’t want to miss her opportunity."
Corporate leaders of Dillard's department stores have known Melba Mebane for years, her son said.
As Melba Mebane grew older, she used her relationships to mold the job into something that worked for her.
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"Mr. Dillard was a really kind soul," Terry Mebane said. "When she [his mom] turned 65, he said, ‘You have a job with me for as long as you want one. I will never let you go. What do you want to do?’ She told him she loved everything about the job except getting home after nine o'clock at night. He said, ‘Great, you're not working nights anymore.’ And that was a game changer."
He added, "So, in the last 25 years, she didn’t have to work nights or Sundays. And by doing that for her as a senior adult, it extended her life."
Melba Mebane, 90, poses with her great-grandson. Mebane's family was there with her on June 17, 2023, to celebrate her retirement from Dillard's department store. (Terry Mebane)
Terry Mebane said that in the later years, his mom was still working nearly 40 hours a week.
"So she was working four eight-hour days, literally in her 70s and 80s. During the winter, if it was bad weather, I simply took her to work and picked her up so that she didn't have to drive in snow or rain or anything like that."
Melba Meban's longevity benefited Dillard's as well, Terry Mebane said.
"She loves people and she loves to work."
"It made Dillard's a heck of a lot more money because I will tell you firsthand, there is still a generation out there that would come to the counter looking for her," he said.
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"And when she's not there, they walk away. Other young girls would say, ‘Well, I can help you? She's not here today.' They said, ‘No, Melba’s going to get my business.’"
Melba Mebane stands outside wearing a lei. She decided that age 90 might be a good time to retire. (Terry Mebane)
After some health issues kept her off the job for some weeks, Melba Mebane decided maybe 90 was a good age to retire.
"Father Time got the best of her," Terry Mebane said. "And it made her realize that she wasn’t at 100%. She said, ‘I just turned 90, I'm not driving and most of my friends aren’t here anymore.' Things became more transaction-oriented and it was just different. You know, [other employees are] 25 or 35 — and she's the old lady up at the front. But they loved her once they got to know her. Everybody in the mall knew her."
Reflecting on her 74 years in retail, Melba Mebane Fox News Digital in a statement that some of her biggest challenges at work were that "technology was not my thing. The rules and procedures hindered connecting with people and the anxiety to perform can be weary."
Melba Mebane‘s entire family was there to celebrate with her at her retirement party. Her son, Terry Mebane, is shown at right, front. Melba Mebane sits front and center and wears a blue sash that says, "Melba." (Terry Mebane)
Her advice to others just starting out in the business is this: "Come to work. Never see it as a paycheck. Stay where God planted you."
Dillard's hosted a retirement celebration on Saturday, June 17, complete with a draped party room, Mexican food, music and the presentation of gifts.
"She got to say a couple of words, and of course she teared up and couldn't finish," Terry Mebane said.
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Melba Mebane was given a "Beyond Excellence" award. A plaque featuring her photo is now hanging on the wall inside the store.
Her store manager, Saenz, said he and the other Dillard's employees did it to honor her.
After working for more than 70 years at Dillard's, Melba Mebane has retired. In this image snapped on June 17, 2023, Mebane poses with Drue Matheny, vice president at Dillard's. (Terry Mebane)
"It will remain here for as long as Dillard's is around," he said. "'Beyond Excellence' is for her decades of service beyond expectations. Even [with] the changing times, from where she started to where we are now in the modern world, her values and everything still stand."
Her good pal Wimbs said Melba Mebane will be missed not just for her sales abilities, but for her friendship.
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"She's such a caring, giving, thoughtful person," Wimbs said.
"She and I have been through a lot together, and I just admire her tremendously. She's just a go-getter."
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