Lengthy company tenure is rare these days. Melody Byler breaks this mold as an employee of FIFS for nearly 30 years and has recently announced her retirement. She has been the first FIFS face or voice greeting clients for many years.
Melody grew up and met her husband, Ken, in Bellville, PA (also known as the “Big Valley”), a rural community located 15 miles south of State College and 50 miles northwest of Harrisburg. In 1987 they decided to move their family to Souderton when Ken accepted a youth ministry position at Salford Mennonite Church, which is where they would attend. Not long after their arrival, Melody accepted a job offer from FIFS founder, John Frankenfield, to work as a customer service agent.
She was at FIFS until 2000 when she accepted a position as the administrator for Salford Mennonite Church. As fate would have it, she returned to FIFS four years later and remained to this day. During her time at FIFS, she served in numerous roles, including customer service agent, administrative assistant, office manager, and receptionist. Melody says, “it’s simple, FIFS is a good place to work. I like what I do here”.
She will be especially missed by FIFS co-workers during her birthday month. Every year she brought homemade whoopie pies (not just chocolate but spice too) for a birthday treat. And when Ken would whisk her away to a surprise birthday destination, the FIFS staff would anxiously wait for the text saying where they were headed.
Melody’s retirement will be bittersweet as she and Ken will be moving back to Belleville. This means leaving many dear friends and co-workers behind while they reunite with their Belleville family and friends. Melody says that “her roots are calling her back there to a much slower pace of life.”
We are grateful for Melody’s dedication to FIFS over her 30 years and we wish her the very best in her retirement years!