The Hormel Institute is saying goodbye to a man who helped lead it through two expansion projects.

Craig Jones, The Institute’s manager of research support services and building coordinator, spent his last day at work Friday before retiring. Jones, 59, is looking forward to taking more time for himself.

“Life is short and I want to be able to do the things I’ve always wanted to do and just didn’t have the time to do them,” he said.

One of the first things he hopes to do is plan a vacation, but he also has many hobbies he hopes to catch up on. He has several projects, such as cars he is working to fix and an airplane he hopes to get working again. He also hopes to travel more, though he hasn’t decided where he wants to go just yet.

Jones started at the Institute on Aug. 15, 1976, working part-time while he was still in school. The next spring, he launched into a full career. He did quit one time during his career, though.

“In 1982, I quit to become a teacher out at Riverland [Community College] for one year,” Jones said.

He taught electronics that year. Yet the next year, he ended up back at the Institute and has stayed there ever since. Jones said he has enjoyed his time at the Institute and the work he did.

“I wouldn’t have stayed there that long if I didn’t,” he said.

Jones worked in various positions at the Institute during his roughly 39 years, all related to his position in research support services. Yet he didn’t start in, or even near, management.

“I started at the bottom and worked my way up,” he said.

Jones was the building coordinator for both the 2007-08 Institute expansion and the expansion that concludes this year. In 1995, he worked with the Institute to bring internet to Austin through the Southern Minnesota Internet Group, or SMIG, and worked with that for about 16 years.

“It’s been a busy couple of years,” he laughed.

Jones advised anyone looking to get into a position similar to his to pay attention to the details.

“They count, during the building projects especially,” he said. “As far as the whole career, you need to get along with people, people are the important part.”

The Institute has already replaced Jones, who said everything is set up for a seamless transition.

Jones is looking forward to a change of pace, and he said his family is happy about the retirement as well.

“It’s a big change,” he said.”When you’ve worked at a place for 39 years, it’s a pretty big change to be thinking that when you wake up in the morning you don’t have to go there anymore. You can’t go there, I guess, so it’s pretty exciting to have a new phase of a person’s life.”