After a 50-year Career, One of HQ’s First Associates is Retiring This Week

Lorraine Arthurs, a merchandise assistant at headquarters, started working at the Exchange in February 1967, before construction of the headquarters building in Dallas was completed. She worked in the mail room at one of two temporary Exchange locations in the city, and later that year moved into the new building with about 1,000 other associates.

Arthurs reached the milestone of 50 total years at the Exchange last fall and plans to retire this week.

When she started, she had never been on a military installation and didn’t know what the Army and Air Force Exchange Service did, but she learned quickly. Some of her jobs were in departments that now have different names or no longer exist. She worked in the Transportation department processing purchase orders; the Special Orders department (before the advent of online shopping); and in Equipment and Supply, where she processed contracts for computers and services in the building.

In the 1970s, she moved into Merchandising, where she’s been ever since. It’s been her favorite job because she enjoys talking to vendors, suppliers and buyers. She especially enjoys working in the books, magazines and gift cards category.

“I work with the book distributors and publishers,” said Arthurs. “And we managed all the book signing events at headquarters (which included Charlie Daniels, Donald Rumsfeld, Lee Greenwood and Clint Harp of HGTV’s ‘Fixer Upper’).”

Arthurs remembers when military generals were the leaders of the Exchange. “They changed between Army and Air Force every two years, and they would come around to visit,” she said.

Some of Arthurs’ family members served in the military. Her father, Armand Volpini, served in the Army Air Forces in World War II. He flew 30 missions in Europe as a lead bombardier in a B-17 bomber. Arthurs’ husband Erwin served 13 months in Vietnam.

Arthurs knows something about service herself; she left the Exchange in 1985 to take care of her grandmother and came back in 1990.

Working at Exchange headquarters has had its ups and downs. She remembers when the Skyline Restaurant, on the top floor of the building, was a welcome respite for associates on Fridays after the work week, and when movies were shown in the auditorium. The Skyline Restaurant closed in 2021, the same year some areas of the building flooded during a winter storm.

“We started working from home last year when a pipe burst and we had two to three inches of water on the second floor,” said Arthurs. “I have really enjoyed working from home!”

All in all, working at the Exchange has been a great experience for her.

“I like the work, the benefits, I lived closed to the Exchange (still do),” Arthurs said. “It’s a good job, and the people I work with are wonderful—I’ll miss them the most.”