Life Lessons from Vita Needle with PBS Newshour

Needham-based needle and tubing manufacturer Vita Needle is making headlines thanks to a unique trait: the average age of their workers is 74. 

PBS Newshour recently stopped by the factory to talk with some of the employees. One of the people they spoke with was Rosa Finnegan, the oldest person employed by Vita Needle, aged 100 (and her birthday is in Feb.).

Finnegan tells PBS' Paul Solman that she "would be so bored if I was at home." 

She continues by explaining she can't read because of macular degeneration, and audiobooks put her to sleep. Working at the factory gives her a chance to spend time with people. In one YouTube clip (see Videos) Solman asks if she is slowing down. 

"Yes, definitely. As long as I don't come to a screeching halt, I'll be lucky," she says. 

In another outtake, she talks about a job at Howard Johnson's where a brief misunderstanding taught her not to ask how a customer's meal was. 

See the PBS Newshour piece, and transcript here.

Last month, Olin Professor Caitrin Lynch and a " Last year, the Boston Globe also wrote about Vita Needle's workforce.