SED/Calian has been a major part of Karen Giles-Thiessen’s life for decades. It’s where she has worked for 43 years in a successful career as a journeyperson electronics assembler, making her one of the company’s longest-serving employees.
“I started in 1981 at age minus-five,” Karen joked in a recent interview.
Karen’s job at Calian hasn’t just resulted in a regular paycheck; it has also sparked a love story.
“The most important thing is I met my husband there; that was kind of a bonus,” she said with a laugh.
Karen Giles was born in Vancouver, B.C., and moved to Saskatoon as a young child. She met Darryl Thiessen at work at SED Systems when Darryl was working in stores while she was working on the assembly floor. In 1993, a co-worker suggested that the pair go for coffee and romance soon blossomed, leading to marriage in 1995.
Since then, Karen and Darryl have been dedicated employees and co-workers at Calian and partners in life. Like Karen, Darryl is a long-serving employee, with 37 years of service under his belt—“he’s a lifer, too,” notes Karen—but his retirement will come a little later than Karen’s, likely in five years.
When Karen began working for SED Systems in 1981, she couldn’t have predicted how long her employment would continue. At the time, she simply needed a job, and she was encouraged to talk to the human resources department at the company and to submit her resume. After beginning her employment at SED Systems, she undertook an apprenticeship to become a journeyperson electronics assembler.
Since being hired 43 years ago, Karen has had many adventures and has had the opportunity to travel for work, going to places such as Australia, Indonesia, England, and Montreal, Quebec.
“I was very happy that I was able to travel for the company and represent the company,” she said. “I really enjoyed my time there.”
Over the years, Karen’s career as a senior assembler has focused on racks, cables, and small chassis assemblies for communications systems—work that she has enjoyed. She believes one of the biggest perks of working at SED/Calian has been the friendships she’s been able to forge with her co-workers.
“It’s been fun,” she said. “I still see people I’ve worked with who have been retired for 30 years or more; we still go out for coffee together.”
With Karen’s retirement coming up soon, Karen and Darryl plan to adopt a puppy. Karen is also an avid lawn bowler, and that activity will be a big part of her life after retirement. It’s something that she has in common with her co-worker, Terry Wishlow, who is also retiring on July 4, 2024, after 25 years of service.
“I belong to the Mayfair Lawn Bowling Club, and I help out with rentals and I’m kind of giving back a bit with teaching the high school kids,” said Karen. “Both Terry and myself are on the board at our club, so we’re kind of getting things organized there a little more, and I’ll be definitely spending more time there than I have been.”
Karen and Terry are also looking forward to an upcoming trip to Portugal in February 2025 with a group of lawn bowlers. Karen said she is “very excited” to be retiring and she is “counting down the days” until she can begin the next chapter of her life.
“I’m just kind of speechless. I can’t believe it’s almost here,” she said. “You know, you wish for it your whole life—‘Oh, I wish I could retire; I wish I could retire’—and when you get there, it’s like, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s here.’ ”
Being that Karen and I are good friends outside of work I doubt that I will miss her. I will be seeing her at least three times a week. LOL. . . Karen has been with this company for over 40 years. Most of her career we were known to be SED Systems. Karen is a very good employee and very meticulous in her work. When she starts a job, she makes sure that it is done in a timely manner and correct. She is a lot of fun and will always help when needed and is willing to help new employees to learn. . . Karen almost always has a smile on her face and does her best to help on anything that she can. . . I hope that Karen enjoys her retirement to the fullest; she deserves this time. I hope that she gets her puppy soon that she has been wanting. Retirement is allowing her to enjoy the time with hubby Darryl and the new pup. She loves her lawn bowling and the lawn bowling community; she can now almost live there, being her house is a block away. I will be enjoying a fair bit of my retirement time doing things with her, I do expect. Congratulations, Karen. You deserve it. –Terry Wishlow
I have been working beside her for most of my seven years here. The most memorable stretch was probably summer of 2020, during COVID. Since we are part of the manufacturing muscle of the company, shutting down or working from home isn’t possible. Instead, to combat the contagion, they split everyone, and every project, up into two shifts. Karen and I took the shorter evening shift for our project. With so few people in the building it was a different feel, and fewer people meant fewer interruptions. We both felt we completed as much or more work in that six-hour shift as our usual one. Getting to enjoy the summer daylight was a huge plus, especially for Karen. . . I’m hoping she gets to enjoy a lot of sun in the summer, and maybe a few vacations to sunny places in the winter. –Dane Stobbe
