51 years at one job is almost impossible to comprehend.
Most people don’t stay in the same job for 51 years. Honestly, most people don’t even stay in the same town that long anymore. We live in a world that moves fast, one where people are constantly looking for and chasing what’s next, so there’s something special about someone who chooses to dedicate over half a century of their life to one place and one community.
And yet, somehow at Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery, stories like that, though special, don’t feel impossible. In fact, in some ways they feel natural.
Last month we celebrated the retirement of Dean Hines after 51 years with the creamery. While it’s impossible to capture someone’s impact in a single blog (especially someone like Dean) anyone who has spent even a few minutes with Dean knows he’s the kind of person that leaves an impression.
The glue between the creamery and the farmer
Dean spent his career as a field representative, serving as a connection point between the Creamery and the patrons/farmers who supply the milk that makes our products possible. On paper, that meant helping with milk quality, numbers and supporting the farmers however he could. But Dean seemed to understand that the job required much more than just that, and he never failed to deliver on the more.
Dean had a way of making people feel known. Every conversation with him carried a little humor, a touch of sarcasm and usually some kind of playful banter that made you feel included. He had this persnickety charm about him that made it feel like he was letting you in on a secret nobody else was supposed to know about. Whether you were talking to him for two minutes or two hours, Dean always made you feel important. That was a huge part of what made him so great at his job and that mattered.
Some people represent a company so well, they begin to feel inseparable from it’s values. Dean was one of those people.
Crafted For Connection
At Ellsworth, we often say our product is “Crafted for Connection”. That phrase was born from the belief that the same connection required to make our award-winning product possible is the same spirit we hope people experience when they gather around those same products. We have this belief and hope that great food, and in our case cheese, brings people together.
Dean embodied that belief so well. He didn’t just support the farmers; He knew them, respected them, invested in them, and from everything I’ve seen, that respect was deeply mutual. Watching Dean interact with farmers over the past year taught me a lot. I never witnessed a conversation with him that felt transactional. The connection he had with people felt earned. Dean spent years showing up, helping when needed, listening to issues, offering advice and when things got too heavy, cracking a well-placed joke. He genuinely cared about people at Ellsworth, beyond milk numbers or quality reports.
The Thailand Story
One of my favorite personal memories with Dean actually started in St. Paul, Minnesota and included his wonderful wife, Becky. Ellsworth had sponsored a St. Paul Saints game and many from Ellsworth were there with their loved ones. During that first conversation with Becky I mentioned that I had lived in Thailand for about a year back in 2016. Becky lit up and said they’d always wanted to go and were thinking of planning a trip.
About a week later, Dean walked into my office and said, “Steve, Becky will not stop talking about Thailand. I need you to come over to our home one evening and give us some recommendations on where to go and what to see.”
I was thrilled! We set a date and I figured I’d stop by for an hour or so, maybe give a few recommendations on what to see, what to avoid, areas to stay and so on.
I stopped by after work one day on a Tuesday and it wasn’t till four hours later that I left. Becky had invited their best friends (and travel buddies) over, showed up with notepads, made refreshments and served an amazing meal. After four hours of stories, laughter, looking over maps and talking through travel ideas I realized that Dean and Becky seem to create connection everywhere they go.
They sent me photos their whole trip, keeping me jealous but updated on one of my favorite countries in the world.
Ask anyone about Dean…
When I spoke with Becky about writing this blog, one thing became very clear almost immediately: Dean genuinely loved what he did.
Becky shared with me that it was rare for him to come home complaining about work. Instead, he’d come home with stories. Stories about the people he cared about and the communities he’d become connected to over decades of service. The work mattered to him, of course. But it was always the people that made it so special.
“It wasn’t just a job to him,” she said. “It was a huge part of his life.”
That doesn’t mean the work was always easy. Agriculture comes with difficult seasons. There were years when milk prices were down, stress was high, and the families he cared so much about were struggling to make ends meet. He saw those burdens firsthand, but even during hard times, Becky says it was his belief in the Creamery and the farmers that kept him going, and in high spirits. And from everything I’ve heard, Dean consistently went above and beyond to make life better for the farmers he served.
When I asked Becky what Dean was like behind closed doors, she just laughed: “The exact same as he is in public,” she said. “Dedicated, loyal, generous, kind.”
That answer tells me everything I need to know about Dean. There are some people whose personality changes depending on the room they’re in, and then there are people like Dean. Consistently themselves everywhere they go. And I think that consistency is why so many people trusted him for so long.
When I asked about legacy, Becky shared something Dean would often say: “If I just make a difference to one person today, that’s all I care about. Even if 10 people are mad at me, if I made one person’s life better, I’m happy”
For someone who spent 51 years serving people, that feels like a pretty remarkable legacy to leave behind.
What 51 years says about a place
Though Dean is certainly one of a kind, his 51 years at Ellsworth aren’t completely a one-off story. At Ellsworth, we have people who have dedicated 20 years, 25 years, 40 years and more to this cooperative. That kind of loyalty tells you a lot about a place. It says something about their mission, the people, and the culture. It points to a place that has spent over 15 years building something beyond their product. They’ve built a legacy, a culture of hard work, trust, community, and connection.
Dean was actually the very first person I met on July 1st, 2025, when I walked into Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery for the first time. Looking back now, that feels fitting. Because before I understood much about the company or the cooperative model, before I understood the scale of the operation, and before I understood just how special this place really was, I met someone who represented the very best of it, and I feel very grateful for that.
And while Dean may be retiring from Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery, I have a feeling the laughter, stories and relationships he’s built over the past 51 years will continue to have impact for a very long time to come.
Written by Steve Weigel of The Brand Club
