People person retired, but not finished
5:47 p.m. Sunday, December 10, 2006
Topeka — You know how a warm smile or a friendly hello can make your day? Well one stop at the Kwik Shop on 21st St. will brighten your day thanks to this week's Person in the Heartland, Leonard Sova.
"Come right in m’am, welcome to Target you're looking great today," says Sova to a Kwik Shop customer.
Leonard Sova is a people person plain and simple.
"I like people, people are my business. They always have been my business," says Sova.
Kwik Shop Manager Jade Schiffbauer didn't know what to think of Leonard.
"It was a shock at first because I didn't know how to take him. He has a dry sense of humor," says Schiffbauer.
But at Kwik Shop, she learned quickly that Leonard was good for business.
"I realized people come in just to see Leonard, I was excited," says Schiffbauer.
"I come in almost everyday and he always makes me smile every time I walk in the door," laughs Kwik Shop customer Cassie Sadler.
"I've been coming here everyday for probably the last four or five years. I work on Wanamaker. He's been greeting me for a long time and it makes my day," says Amanda Hanson, another customer.
So what is his story… inquiring minds want to know.
Leonard was a long-time Topeka businessman. He owned eight restaurants and a night club before he retired. Before that he was in the service.
"I was in WWII in the Navy. After I came out I joined the VFW in 1948. I didn't know I was that old, but that's when it was," says Sova.
After so many years of serving others, Leonard wasn't ready to sit at home. He's pretty sure his wife and son are OK with his day job.
"They're glad to get rid of me," laughs Sova.
So now this retired people person has made people his business once again. He doesn't get paid a dime, though customers are quick to question that. Leonard says there is no need; he is paid in the satisfaction of making others smile.
"That's my hobby to do that. I want to make everybody happy,” says Sova.
Post a comment
(Requires free registration.)