By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
Surrounded by friends, family and coworkers, Bob Wege retired from Propane Central last Friday after a 26-year career at the company. Long before that, though, Wege started his career driving gas trucks almost half a century ago.
Before Wege started his quarter-century-long career at Propane Central, he began hauling propane in Manhattan for a different company in 1977.
Eventually, he and his family moved to the Salina area to work for a company that would become Propane Central.
"I've been hauling gas for 47 years," Wege said. "I do know it's been that many years, same job — the company's just got a different name."
At his retirement celebration, staff and family members surprised Wege with hamburgers, bratwursts, cake, flowers, a signed wooden plaque and a wooden Propane Central model truck with his name.
Wege's grandaughter, Scarlett Bigney, 9, his wife Shirley Wege, and his other immediate family members joined the celebration on Friday, joining the group photos next to the Propane Central truck.
"This was nice," Wege said. "I wasn't expecting that I had it coming."
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