Nola Pieper was a bright-eyed 20-year-old when she first approached Philip Pullar in November, 1972.
Fast forward to one day in October this year, when Nola closed her Excel spreadsheet, logged off from her computer and pushed in her office chair at Pullar’s Cold Storage one last time.
Her story with the family business began one day after a girlfriend mentioned a secretary position going at the nearby orchard.
After impressing Philip with her intelligence and friendly manner, Nola landed the job.
Sitting in the same Pullar’s Cold Storage office built by her husband, Nola said her role at the family business was very interesting.
She soon found herself at the heart of the family business, with her diligent nature prompting her to tackle tasks beyond the typical remit of a secretary.
“It’s not like a secretary job where you’re typing letters and answering phone calls all the time,” she said.
“You had to sort of be a jack of all trades.”
At times, Nola stepped in to babysit the Pullar children, including Dean and his siblings, when things were busy for the family.
“If they [Dean’s parents] had something to go to, I’d say ‘I’ll come to look after them!’” Nola said.
Before the internet arrived, Nola and her colleagues would handwrite the company ledgers and pay accounts using handwritten cheques.
“I used to sign the pickers on in the morning, down at the shed at 6.30am, and work out the numbers, give them all their paperwork,” she said.
And before the advent of the World Wide Web, Nola found the world arrived at her doorstep.
Fruit pickers hailed from every corner of the globe looking for work, and Nola made connections with many of them — particularly the local permanent pickers.
“You grew up with those workers, and they never left,” she said.
“They spent their lives working for Pullar’s.”
When the company moved to computerised accounts, a conscientious Nola learned how to use the strange machines from scratch.
“You can imagine coming out of school and not having seen a computer. They weren’t in,” she said.
Luckily for herself and the Pullar family, the enterprising Nola could touch type and was good with numbers. Impressively, Nola and her colleagues taught themselves how to create computer programs purpose-built for a soft fruit orchard.
Nola had her final official shift last month and will be celebrating her time at the family business at Sporties Barooga next Friday.
“Being a family business, you’re sort of included as part of the family,” Nola said.
The sentiment was echoed by owner operator Dean Pullar.
Dean said Nola has been instrumental in helping him step in to his late father’s shoes as head of the family business.
“I call on Nola all the time to get her advice, her wisdom and knowledge,” he said.