Rudy Van Glabeke retires after 48 years at Bekina Compounds

After 48 years, we are sad to say goodbye to Rudy Van Glabeke. Over the years he has given the very best of himself as an operator at Bekina Compounds. We’d like to take a last look back at Rudy's career in this interview. 

After 48 years of service at Bekina, I retired in January 2024. My story at Bekina began at a very young age. I started work here when I had just turned 14. I didn’t really enjoy school and wanted to get started with work as soon as possible. As a young boy I spent a lot of time walking around the Bekina company site with my father, Gaston. He was the caretaker here and we lived in the caretaker's house, which stood where the company car park is now. Initially I began helping in the factory during the holidays, but Denis Vanderbeke (founder of Bekina) soon took me on as an employee. I started in the ‘preparation’ department, where I worked at the mixer. They were still making rubber boots there at the time. Following the company fire, Bekina began making polyurethane boots. After that I did all kinds of things as an operator: I worked at the steam presses where they made rubber mud flaps, operated the roller and the mixer, helped make masks for the army... In the beginning everything was still done by hand, while in later years there was a lot more automation. 

That would definitely be the fire in 1987. That year a large part of the business burnt down. Everything was destroyed and had to be rebuilt. I saved one of my colleagues from the fire. He was inside the building calling the fire brigade when suddenly everything collapsed and he was surrounded by flames. I kicked down the closed glass door and dragged him out. Soon afterwards the whole office exploded. You never forget something like that. 

The rebuilding of the company after the fire. We had to gather all our courage, but together we came through it stronger. Only eight months after the fire, all of us managed to get everything fully operational again. We were so happy to be able to get back to our jobs. 

I wanted to be able to do physical work and that was definitely a possibility here. There was no need to work out once I got home. As I said, I was very young when I started this job and I promised back then that I would keep working here. When I make a promise, I follow through to the end. I always enjoyed my job. The atmosphere and team spirit were brilliant and you feel like part of the family.  

Without doubt my colleagues. But I don’t have to say goodbye to Bekina completely, because I come and help out every weekend. I’m now a caretaker at Bekina. They can depend on me if the alarm goes off, and I continue to maintain the factory buildings. So I’m still helping to ensure the business stays safe, clean and tidy. 

Thank you, Rudy. You’ll be missed! 

If you would like to join the Bekina family too, take a look at the Bekina job page and, who knows, we might be meeting each other someday soon!