Johnsons's Garden Centers Text File document - copyright 2002
PDF file available at http://www.johnsonsgarden.com/newsletter/profiles.html

She's Always on the Run at Johnson's Garden Center
October 2001
Carolyn Utter, Editor

    Is Traci there? The question comes booming over the office phone's
intercom. More than likely she's not. With duties that keep her running
between Johnson's main warehouse ... the West 13th warehouse ... the annex
warehouse ... and sometimes her office desk, Traci Harrison is always on
the go at Johnson's Garden Center.

    As part of her job, Traci oversees Johnson's inventory, makes
pricing labels for products and gets all of Johnson's Christmas
merchandise ready for the season. Christmas preparations start in late
June and last through early October. During those 3-4 months, she and
her helpers "physically touch each Christmas item ... thousands of them ...
as we sort and label each and every item for all three of Johnson's
stores."

    Traci likes her work at Johnson's because there's always something
different to do. "It's fun É I'm always busy É there's never a dull
moment." She has worked in the office for 3 1/2 years now, after 8 years
in the store and greenhouse. When she transferred to the office, Traci
was "ready for a change" but was a little unsure because she'd never
worked on a computer before. She caught on quickly, however, because
Traci was a major contributor in getting Johnson's point-of-sale UPC
system up and running this spring. She and the Johnson's are still
working out a few bugs, but Traci never gets discouraged. Each new
"problem" is just another challenge to Traci.

    Traci and her husband, Jerry, have been married for 13 years. Jerry
is an Assistant County Manager with Sedgwick County. Traci and Jerry
have four children:  Ryan, 16; Heather, 18; Sarah, 23; and Justin, 26.

    Heather is a freshman at WSU and this summer earned a spot on the
WSU cheerleading squad. Heather helps Traci "do Christmas" at Johnson's
during the summer and recently started working part time in Johnson's
Landscaping office.

    Ryan attends Maize High School and is a Yell Leader. This past
summer, Ryan earned a spot on the All-American Yell Leader Team when he
placed #1 out of 300 in the competition at Baker University! Traci is
"glad to see Heather and Ryan's many years of gymnastics paying off!"

    Sarah is a first year teacher at West High School and Justin works
for a local cable company. Sarah and Justin each have blessed the
Harrison family with a grandchild.

    The Harrisons hosted a Brazilian foreign exchange student, Andrea
Corrales, from 1999 to 2000. Jerry, Traci, Ryan and Heather enjoyed
visiting Andrea and her family in Sao Paulo, Brazil for two weeks this
past Christmas. Andrea hopes to be back in the United States this
November for an extended visit and then return to Brazil to start
medical school.

    One of Traci's "hobbies" is to decorate for the holidays. Her annual
outdoor Halloween display is a neighborhood tradition including a
cemetery with headstones, bats and ghosts in the trees, and new this
year--blinking eyeballs. Almost all of Traci's Halloween decorations
came from Johnson's over the years. Jerry has been known to call their
home "Johnson's Annex."