Long-time MTA employee retires after 4 decades and 10 job titles later

Knutson started working at MTA on January 6, 1976, as a student clerk while she was finishing her senior year at Palmer High School, utilizing the school’s apprenticeship program.

“My first day of work was my last day of school,” she said. “MTA, fortunately, hires student workers and I think it’s a great way to get started.”

During her 44-plus years at MTA, she cycled through multiple positions in the company. Her average span lasted about six years before she moved onto something different. Her past positions include (in chronological order): student clerk, accounting, outside planning engineering clerical, outside planning engineering supervisor, traffic engineering, circuit layout, records supervisor, and business process analyst, her final role.

“The more you know, the more you can be,” she said.

Knutson’s various positions were quite different from each other and she said that her cross-training from department to department helped her along the way. This also included a, “brief, six-month IT stint.”

“I thought I could be a programmer… I liked the work but I didn’t like the isolation,” she said.

The longer she was with MTA, the easier it was for her to utilize her previous experiences for the job at hand. She said that she’s tried just about everything except for in the field, warehouse and customer service.

“It seemed when I needed a change, a position opened up,” she said

Knutson moved to the Mat-Su Valley with her family when she was 10 years old. They flew up from Seattle, Washington, but is originally from Montana. She grew up in Palmer and got married to her late husband, Steven, right out of high school, the same year she got her job at MTA. They have four kids.

Knutson’s husband was a self-employed mechanic and ran a shop, Hatcher Pass Automotive, with his brother, Eric. She decided to make MTA her career, with steady pay and benefits.

“Stability was a big, especially after I had kids,” Knutson said.

Steve died in February after a long series of illnesses, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes and neuropathy. His passing in part, encouraged Knutson to retire earlier than her 45-year mark. She said that her retirement will be her chance to pick up old crafty hobbies and projects and even pick some new ones along the way. She is also going to use the freed up time to do more travelling, starting by visiting her grandchildren in the Lower 48.

“I usually tell people when they ask me what I’m going to do [for retirement], whatever I want for as long as I want to,” she laughed.

Long before she retired, Knutson started an annual tradition for the holidays, making homemade food baskets, custom fit and made from scratch. The list includes Jams, liqueurs, breads, canned fruits and vegetables. She made just about everything except for cookies because, “everyone else does that.” She does however, make Oreo truffles from scratch.

“You don’t have to worry about sizes, likes, dislikes. Everybody likes food,” she said.

Knutson said that she had a few firsts during her time at MTA. She brought the first electric punch system, took the first required typing test (required 35 wpm and she completed it with 62 and a one month old, Adam at her feet), and used the first desktop computer

“I watched the company evolve from a plain ole telephone service to wireless, TV, to broadband, where we are today,” Knutson said. “More speed, we all want it.”

Knutson is still in her first week of retirement. To date, she has five grandkids and one great-grandchild. She has one last task for MTA, passing on the torch, literally. For about 10 to 15 years, she said that on her desk was an antique torch used by electricians in their line of work. It’s tradition of borrowed titles, etched in time. She received it from the last bearer, Ted Meyers.

“He was a very nice man,” she said.

Now in her shop, one of her first projects, the torch has several names of past employees who held the longest time employed. She simply needs to engrave her name onto the “seniority torch” and pass it on to Debbie Pempek, the next in line for the seniority title.

“She is retiring soon so it will be passed on again,” Knutson said. “That torch, I hope continues to go on.”