Getting the key to the City of South Miami was not on the Winn-Dixie clerk’s to do list, but last week she just smiled and said thank-you.

After 50 years of working for the supermarket chain, Columbia Ebersole hung up her apron, closed her register and bowed out. But not before her many friends, some of whom were happy to go to City Hall, honored her.

On Dec. 18, near a Christmas tree, Ebersole posed for pictures. She was wearing modern green nail polish that matched the emblem on the city’s golden key.

“I have known her for years. She is a wonderful woman and we all love her,” said Jeanne Higgins, a South Miami resident. “She deserves this recognition.”

She is friends with many local families. In 1957, Ebersole and her husband left her native West Pittsburg, Pa. She started to work for Winn-Dixie in 1962, when the company was only about seven years old. South Miami resident Fay Guillis worked with Ebersole for many years.

“She just always has a smile, and is one of the kindest people I have ever known” Guillis said.

Ebersole is planning to move to Daytona Beach with her daughter. She has two great grandchildren, and three grandchildren.

“I just like helping people,” Ebersole said.

Mayor Philip Stoddard hugged her, and she waved goodbye like a beauty queen.