Joe Serpento offers an Rx to community
A New Salem man is living proof of the value mentors can have on young people. At the age of 75, Joe Serpento attributes his 50 years as a pharmacist to his childhood mentor. Serpento, the owner of three local pharmacies, says his interest in being a pharmacist began while he worked as a teen-ager cutting grass and shrubs in his local neighborhood.
“It was in the summer time when I met the man who influenced what I would do with my life. I can’t remember his first name. I just called him Dr. Gretznew. He was a German compound physician.
“I would take care of his shrubbery and all and he would show me how he mixed different drugs for colds or whatever, and that’s how I got really interested in it,” said Serpento.
Serpento says it was fascinating watching the doctor mixing medicines that would ultimately cure people of their illness.
Ever since then, he says, he wanted to be a pharmacist.
Now, a half a century later, It turns out that Serpento has two followers of his own footsteps. But according to Serpento it wasn’t intentional.
His two nephews, James O’Neil of Uniontown and David O’Neil of Farmington, are both pharmacists and they work for him in operating Fairchance Pharmacy, New Salem Pharmacy and Joe Serpento Pharmacy in Republic.
While they all three help each other out, Serpento primarily operates the New Salem Pharamacy while James and David run the pharmacies in Republic and Fairchance respectively.
The nephews agree that watching their uncle in action led them into the field.
“As a child I was always close to my uncle and I can remember just watching him work and work and work. Really he hasn’t changed much since then, except that he’s even more enthusiastic now than he was before,” noted James O’Neil.
James O’Neil explained that his uncle didn’t push him towards the field but says that watching him at the pharmacy just had a positive impact on him.
“When you see someone doing something they love to do, it just makes you appreciate it even more. It makes you want to be a part of it,” he adds.
David O’Neil agrees noting the field is now his life too and adds that it’s an interesting job and one that he loves.
Serpento agrees the job is interesting and adds what he enjoys most is the constant interaction with the public.
“Over the years they become family. You see the same people over and over and that’s what makes it nice. I like the fact that what I do has a positive impact on the lives of others,” Serpento noted.
While working with the public is his favorite part of the job Serpento says there isn’t much he doesn’t like about what he does. But he adds that the field has changed in many ways over the years.
“The field is constantly changing. It went from a field where everything was done by hand to a job that can’t be done without the help of computers. It’s amazing how time changes things,” said Serpento.
But time has left some things unchanged according to Serpento’s nephews who both conclude that their savvy uncle has remained the same as far as his seriousness for work goes.
“He’s always been intense about his work. He’s definitely a stickler for details, and he’s never done. Everything has to be just right,” noted David O’Neil.
James O’Neil too says his uncle has always been on the strict side as far as work is concerned.
“He does things strictly by the book, and I respect that. He’s always been the most honest business man I’ve ever known and the one I have the most respect for.”
James O’Neil adds Serpento has earned the respect he well deserves.
“I can recall plenty of times when I was a child that my uncle would leave the house in the middle of the night because someone called and said .they needed something from the pharmacy because they had a sick kid.
“No matter what time of the night my uncle would always go. That was years ago, and I’ll bet he still does it today. That’s something you’ll only find in your small town and something we’re all proud of,” said James O’Neil.
And while James O’Neil is proud of his uncle’s long years of service, he’s not the only one. Serpento was recently honored by the Duquesne University Alumni Association for his 50 years of work as a pharmacist. He graduated from Duquesne University’s School of Pharmacy in 1952.
Despite the many years in the business, Serpento says he’s not even thinking about calling it quits.
” What would I do? I still like to count pills and I’m not tired of it a bit. I work 12-hour days, seven days a week. I’d be lost if I didn’t,” he says.
While Serpento explained that he primarily stays at the New Salem store he added that sometimes he still “covers” for the “other” pharmacists at the other two locations.
“That’s what it’s all about. You have to be there and you’ve got to do the job right,” said Serpento.
“How else can you have a good impact on someone’s life if you aren’t there? Work ethic is this simple.It all goes back to the Golden Rule: ‘Do to others as you would want them to do unto you,'” he added.