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Dean and Valerie Monroe are about to enter what they call "semi-retirement." On Friday, after 50 years, they will close Monroe Office Machine and Supply in downtown Webster City.

Dean said he started out in business machine repair work, learning his trade on the job with help from the GI Bill. In 1959, he struck out on his own and started repairing machines out of his home.

"I was repairing machines at home and working at Frigidaire, too," he said.

The Monroes moved their business out of their home and into the downtown retail community in 1967, according to Dean.

"We had good friend, George Brown, who owned what was then old Mason Hardware store," he said. They established their business in that store, but not long after, faced an unplanned relocation.

"We got burned out with the Johnson Furniture store fire in September of 1967," Dean explained.

In October of that year, the Monroes bought the building where their business is currently located.

"We bought this building and did most of the remodeling ourselves. By the first of December, we started wheeling stuff from the old building into the new store," he said.

Through the years, the owner have added office supplies and other services. The store was been a UPS drop-off site for people shipping packages for business and personal reasons.

Monroe Office Machines has been a true family operation. All of the Monroe children have worked for the business at various times. Son Keith is continuing on with the business and now manages the Iowa Falls store.

The family also owned a store in Clarion for several years.

"We've expanded and now we're contracting," Dean said.

The Monroes expect to remain very busy as the enter retirement. Dean said he has many business machines he wants to work on and part out, and he'll keep up his farming operation as well.

"I like to keep busy," he said."I've got a lot of hobbies out to the farm that I like to do, different projects. I just haven't had time to do them," he added.

Dean said he'll still be around to help Keith when needed and anticipates that he will continue to make deliveries for the business. However, those deliveries will soon be based out of Iowa Falls.

"I'll probably still be delivering stuff over here in Webster City. I've got some customers I've called on for years and I'm going to keep calling on them," he said.

Valerie said she expected to spend some time at the Iowa Falls store, as she will continue to do the book work and tax work from that location. And she said she hopes to spend some time at home working on projects that haven't gotten done.

"When you work all the time, it's hard to get things finished up," she noted.

We're looking forward to goofing off a little, . This way if we decide we want go run around the country a little bit, we've got the time to do it" according to Dean.

The Monroes said they've had a good experience owning a business in Webster City.

"We've enjoyed it. We raised four kids through having this business downtown," Valerie said.

"We'll miss all the customers and the people who stop in everyday to chat. We'll miss all the people we've gotten acquainted with through the business," Dean said.

He admitted that he would likely still spend time at the store even after they close the doors on Friday.

"I'll probably be down here everyday for a while," he said, adding, "It's just habit."

Contact Anne Blankenship at editor@freemanjournal.net or call 832-4350.