Holiday World's 'Flower Lady' Retires at 98

Here's a neat 'human interest' story if there ever were one - at the age of 98, longtime Holiday World employee Frieda Foertsch says it’s time to become a “lady of leisure.”

Starting in 1954, Foertsch literally worked her way around the park, at first in the kitchen and admissions, followed by sewing Santa suits and cleaning the park, and, for the past two decades, caring for the park’s flowers.

At her retirement party, she thanked the Koch family for “putting up with me all these years” and teased park president Will Koch that she’d worked at the park “before you even existed.”

In 2000, Foertsch was named Indiana’s Outstanding Older Worker by Green Thumb, Inc. The national organization sent her to Washington D.C. for a week’s celebration and featured her in their 2001 calendar. Foertsch was also included in a “60 Minutes” segment about older workers.

While you may not be able to see Frieda working on the park's flowers, Holiday World opens for the 2009 season on May 2nd.