Terry Lundberg has always enjoyed coming to work and has always enjoyed working for the members of Northern Electric Cooperative. Those are two of the main factors that drove Lundberg during his 40-year career as a lineman at the cooperative.

“I would not trade it for anything,” Lundberg said. “I have really enjoyed what I do.”

Lundberg retired as a line foreman in early January after he was hired as an apprentice in 1981. But Lundberg almost missed his opportunity to work for Northern Electric. He initially turned down a job at the co-op after he graduated from Mitchell Tech to work for a contractor that traveled throughout the Midwest installing cable television lines. The cable TV job offered him more money, but after spending a month on the job Lundberg realized he had made a mistake. He went back to Northern Electric and asked if they still had any job openings. Fortunately, the cooperative had an open position on the line crew and Lundberg has never looked back.

“It was never work to me. You come here and every day is different,” Lundberg said.

Lundberg contributes his longevity at the cooperative to that realization early in his career to pursue a job you enjoy. One of the things he has liked most about being a lineman at Northern Electric is helping the members and restoring their power.

“One of the biggest joys is when a storm comes through and you go out and you see the lights come back on,” Lundberg said. “I have always said I do not work for Northern. I work for the members and when they say thank you, I say thank you, because they own the co-op.”

That small-town community atmosphere of an electric cooperative is what has made Lundberg’s career special. He said the cooperative has always had good board members, managers, and employees that made it a pleasure to come to work. “It is one job you can not do by yourself,” Lundberg said. “It is a total team effort.”

And because Lundberg worked at a cooperative and in a career field that he loved, he said it does not seem like he has worked at Northern Electric for four decades.

“It is one year after another and you turn around and before you know it you have been here 40 years,” Lundberg said. “I knew it was a good place to provide for my family.”

Lundberg plans to spend more time with family during retirement. He and his wife, Bonnie, plan to travel and spend more time with their grandchildren. He also said he is starting to play golf and hopes to get back into fishing.