T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Longtime Iowa Veterans Home Resident Treatment Worker (RTW) Rita Dostal, left, pictured alongside Fox Building RN Nursing Services Director Amanda Thill, right, recently celebrated her 55-year employment anniversary at the facility in Marshalltown.

After graduating from South Tama County High School, Rita Dostal was looking for a job while she studied at Marshalltown Community College (MCC) when she found one as a resident treatment worker (RTW) at the Iowa Veterans Home in 1969.

She didn’t have a car at the time, so she walked from MCC (which was downtown at the time) to the IVH campus on Summit Street and told her new bosses she would be available whenever they needed her. In late December, Dostal, now IVH’s longest-tenured employee and still an RTW in the Fox Building, celebrated her 55-year employment anniversary.

She did spend 40 years as a Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) but eventually chose to go back to RTW duties because the other was “too much.” Notably, Dostal came onboard the same year as the facility’s longest-serving commandant, Jack Dack, who held his post from 1969 to 2002. In the 23 years since his departure, there have been 12 different commandants.

Plenty has changed since Dostal started, some for the better and some for the worse.

“I think our clients are getting more difficult. They’re waiting longer, they’re older, they’re more disabled. I mean, there are so many factors,” she said.

When she first came on, Dostal was caring for veterans of the Spanish-American War and WWI, and now, IVH is down to its last handful of surviving WWII veterans. Those who served in WWI and WWII, she said, were some of the most polite she has ever met, although her experiences with those who served in subsequent wars have been a bit more mixed.

Dostal, who lives on the farm where she grew up near Toledo, isn’t sure how much longer she’ll work, but she hasn’t gotten tired of it yet.

“I still love it. Am I bored? No. It’s my passion,” she said. “Yeah, (the veterans) are a challenge, but I love it. If you can put a smile on somebody’s face, that’s what I like. It’s worth every minute.”

Amanda Thill, who serves as the RN Nursing Services Director in the Fox Building, described Dostal as “an exceptional employee” who is “very dedicated and reliable.”

“Rita has devoted her life to the care of our Iowa veterans and their spouses, and it shows with her commitment and caring attitude. It has been a privilege and honor to serve alongside her caring for our veterans,” Thill said. “Rita goes above and beyond to make this their home and is an asset to our organization. Her years of experience, the changes she has seen over the years and the accomplishments she has earned are tremendous, and she deserves to be recognized for her 55 years of service to our agency.”

Dostal has also been encouraged by some of the changes that she feels have given the veterans more dignity, like individual rooms, and she said she’s worked with people she’ll never forget for the rest of her life. And after watching friends retire and “go downhill fast” without something to keep them busy, Dostal, who still exercises regularly and watches what she eats, isn’t in any rush.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.