‘Famous Face': At 94, Martha McAnespie still loves to make Schnucks customers feel special

Good News feature for The Commercial Appeal

Feb. 24, 2011

“They call me ‘the Schnucks lady,'” Martha McAnespie says with a twinkle of pride in her green eyes.

At 94 years old, McAnespie is the same age as the very concept of a supermarket, having been born one month after Clarence Saunders opened the first Piggly Wiggly in September of 1916 in Downtown Memphis.

McAnespie works Thursdays through Saturdays at the Schnucks at Quince and Ridgeway, in East Memphis, and she wouldn’t miss those workdays for the world. She went to work for Seessel’s 26 years ago after retiring from her job as a secretary in the Criminal Court Division of General Sessions Court.

“I don’t think I could have stayed on this long if it hadn’t have been for the company,” McAnespie said. “Everybody here is so good to me, the management and the employees, so then I try to pass that on to the customers and make them feel special.” … (read more)