The helpful hardware woman
Maryann Hildebradk, 77, knows just about everything there is to know about nuts and bolts.
And just about everyone knows Maryann.
For the past 10 years, she's worked at the Ace Hardware Sherwin store at 1705 W. Campbell St.
Three days every week she shows up wearing her red vest decorated with an American flag and pictures of her great-grandchildren.
When it's busy, Maryann can barely get down the store's main aisle without people either saying hello or desperately waving a broken bolt. She nods and answers questions while patting kids on their heads.
"I just like people," she said. "If you're nice to them, they will be nice back."
Maryann has lived in the same Rolling Meadows home since 1954. Her husband, Arnold, passed away years ago and the closest of her grown children lives in Fox River Grove.
But Maryann keeps busy. Besides work, she cuts her own grass and volunteers at the Arlington Heights PADS shelter.
Before the hardware store, Maryann worked at a dry cleaner down the street in Rolling Meadows for 21 years. When the cleaner changed ownership in the late 1990s, Maryann went looking for a new job at an age when most people are retired.
Or more accurately - walking. She spotted a "help wanted" sign in the hardware store's window and walked on in.
"They didn't want me and I didn't belong there," said Maryann about the cleaners in a tone that hints of grudge. "I belong here."
She started out as a cashier but moved to hardware when another employee quit. Only problem was, she didn't know a thing about hardware.
So she listened to other employees help customers identify odd screws and locate missing washers. Eventually she picked it up.
Today, she runs the show.
"People come in and say 'Maryann told me to do this,'" said fellow Ace employee Joann Milo, who's worked with Maryann for three years.
Maryann will continue working as along as her health with allow. Her knees are starting to hurt more these days.
"I'll miss it," she said. "It keeps me busy and I'm never board."