After 43 years of service with the Co-op, twenty seven of which were spent here in Moose Jaw, General Manager Gerry Onyskevitch will retire this February.

Originally from Wynyard, Saskatchewan, Onyskevitch began his career with the Co-op in the hardware department in Wadena in 1976.

When he and his family came to Moose Jaw in 1991, he didn't know they would be here as long as they have been. "When I first came here, it probably wasn't my intention to stay here forever. You soon find that Moose Jaw is a great place, and I couldn't convince my family to leave here."

Onyskevitch has seen and been a part of a lot of changes during his time at the Moose Jaw Co-op. "We had the opportunity to do some renovations at our food store, which worked out really good. We looked at our gas bar, which was kind of falling apart downtown, We decided it was time to upgrade that. Gas bars...we've never looked back. They've been really good for us. We've looked for great locations. We've been very fortunate that the people of Moose Jaw, our members, have really supported us."

Gerry was part of the group of folks who helped preserve the Co-op's history with a photo gallery in the basement of the food store. "[Two board members] decided to take this upon themselves. I got involved with them a little bit, but they really were the ones who did this. It is unbelievable the history that is down there. I don't know of businesses that would do something like that, that would put together a gallery like that, to preserve the history. And there's a lot of history to the Moose Jaw Co-op."

The Co-op will honour Onyskevitch on Saturday during a dinner-and-entertainment program at the Heritage Inn & Convention Centre.