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Many people who have visited a pharmacy in Harlan County over the last half a century or more are familiar with local pharmacist John McNiel. He has served generations of families in Harlan as their pharmacist. McNiel was also the first pharmacist hired by Food City 27 years ago, and it is from Food City that he is retiring after a long and distinguished career.
McNiel talked about his career at his recent retirement party, a surprise event thrown for him at Food City by his coworkers and family.
He pointed out he has worked as a pharmacist in Harlan County for approximately 60 years, including his 27 years with Food City.
“I worked at CVS for around 10 years, and I had Howard Drug for 17 years,” McNiel remembered.
Howard Drug was a downtown Harlan drug store which featured a popular lunch counter frequented by folks who worked in downtown Harlan as well as school children on lunch break from the Harlan Independent school district. Nearly everyone who lived in Harlan during that period likely remembers being in the establishment at one time or another.
McNiel says his favorite part of his time at Food City has been working with his coworkers.
“The people I work with have been outstanding,” McNiel said.
McNiel has plans for retirement including one of his favorite activities, gardening.
“I’ll do something different,” McNiel said. “But I’ll still grow my tomatoes in the backyard. That’s my main objective in the summer, growing tomatoes.”
Mickey Blazer, Executive Vice President of Pharmacy and Fuel for Food City, expressed his thoughts on McNiel’s retirement.
“John’s story is pretty unique,” said Blazer. “John was the very first pharmacist that we hired when we went into the pharmacy business back in 1997. Harlan was our very first pharmacy.”
Blazer explained McNiel has been a big part of Food City’s pharmacy division since he was hired.
“He has been instrumental in helping build our pharmacy program,” Blazer said. “I’m sure John has seen a lot of changes in the years that he’s practiced.”
McNiel’s daughter Peggy McNiel Braden made the trek to Harlan to surprise her dad with his retirement celebration.
“I’m so proud of him, he has worked hard his whole life,” Braden said. “Honestly, I think he thought he would have retired sooner, but he has loved working here, he loves the people he works with, and he loves the town of Harlan. Food City has been really good to him.”
Braden said she was not surprised he continued working until now. She also talked about her reasons for following her father into the profession.
“I remembered Howard Drug,” she said. “I grew up in Howard Drug, I feel like I cut my teeth on the counter.”
Once becoming a pharmacist, she worked with her father and brother Tip at Food City for five years.
“They don’t normally let family work together, but they made an exception,” Braden said. “It’s the best job I’ve ever had, getting to walk in every day and work with him and Tip…it worked well for us.”
Tip McNiel, Food City Pharmacy Manager and John McNiel’s son, talked about working with his father.
“Right after my freshman year of high school, I wanted a drum set,” Tip said. “Dad said ‘if you work for me during the summer I’ll get you a drum set.’ So, I worked at Howard Drug.”
Tip remembered fondly his father showing him the ropes of the business.
“He taught me the right way of doing business,” he said. “He taught me the right way of dealing with people and trying to take care of our patients as much as we could, to give good service, a fair price, and treat people the way you’d want to be treated. Those simple little things are still what’s important today.”
Tip mentioned John’s customers have followed him from location to location because of the service and trust he provided.
“He’s honest, a man of integrity, he’s a very caring, good-hearted person,” Tip said. “My dad grew up dirt poor on a farm in Claiborne, Tennessee…He walked to school in a one room schoolhouse. He decided then he was going to make something of himself…He had such a drive. He was going to succeed. I admire him a whole lot.”
John’s son Roy McNiel was also on hand for the event.
“He’s always cared about customer service,” Roy said. “He loved it when he was able to come here (Food City) because they allowed him to take care of the customer…they let him run this like he wanted to.”
Roy explained John has influenced him in many ways.
“His character and his integrity have influenced me,” said Roy. “I remember many years ago at a football game, the guy doing the sideline marker was cheating, and the ref asked who an honest person was who could do the job. Everybody said ‘John McNiel.’ I always remember that.”
Food City Staff Pharmacist Linda Burnette has worked alongside John for approximately 20 years.
“John is a class act, what you see is what you get, he doesn’t sugarcoat anything,” Burnette said. “There will never be another John. He’s a gentleman, he’s professional, and he’s a good friend.”
Roy McNiel added he can recall people calling his dad after hours about their medicines.
“He always took care of his customers,” he said. “We’d sit down for dinner, and somebody would call and say they had forgotten to get their medicine. He’d get right up and go to the store and give them their medicine…you can’t ask for better than that.”
Braden shared some additional thoughts on her father’s influence on herself and her brothers.
“I’ve always been proud to be his daughter,” Braden said. “He is a good man, and he is a good dad. He is kind, he is fair, he is generous, and he is loving. Tip and I both became pharmacists because we saw how respected he was in the community and how much people loved him and the service he was able to provide through pharmacy. There wasn’t another person in town I would’ve wanted to grow up to be like.”