Debra Klouse is the first employee to hit her 40th anniversary at St. Marks Lutheran Home in Austin.

“I wouldn’t be here 40 years if I didn’t enjoy it,” Klouse said.

Klouse started at St. Marks soon after finishing her schooling, starting on Oct. 8, 1974.

Because it was hard to come by nursing jobs, she started as an on-call nurse. She got a position within six months and has worked all three shifts over the years as a licensed practical nurse.

It’s a job she loves.

“You learn so much from the elderly people, and sometimes we’re the only ones that they have for families,” Klouse said. “It’s just so rewarding.”

She’s been in the skilled care nursing area for most of those years, although she has worn many different hats, working in the therapy program, wounds and treatments, working with the foot doctor, and others. In March, she moved to the new assisted living unit, where she has even more direct care access to residents.

Over the years, Klouse took care of her grandparents as they aged.

“I’ve taken care of people all my life so it’s just part of me,” Klouse said.

She said nursing runs in her family, as her mother was a nurse, and now her daughter and daughter-in-law are nurses.

Klouse has another reason she enjoys her job.

“I have a lot of respect and am very in awe of a lot of the elderly people because they’re just marvelous people,” she said.

Klouse said her husband, Morris, says she must be a magnet for elderly people, because when she goes into shops or restaurants older people will come talk to her even when she doesn’t know them.

“It’s easy for me to talk to them,” she said.

Klouse and her husband live on a farm near Rose Creek. They have three grown children who live in the area, three grandchildren and a fourth on the way. Klouse’s brother also lives on the farm.

But her immediate family aren’t the only people she considers family. She said the staff and residents at St. Marks feel like another branch of family.

“You get to know the people, they feel like family to you,” Klouse said. “It’s just a good feeling.”

There are about 24 people in her department. Although she loves her job, Klouse said she is looking to the next step.

“I’m not too far from retirement age,” she said.

She hopes to continue working and eventually retire with the job she has had all these years.