AUBURN — More than 40 co-workers, volunteers and family members gathered at Western Maine Transportation Services in Auburn on Feb. 11 for a surprise celebration of customer service representative Debbie Conrad’s 25th anniversary with the organization.

Conrad was initially hired in February 1990 as the customer service worker/scheduler/dispatcher, working at the South Paris satellite office with one other person.

In 1996, she was transferred to the Lewiston office at 216 Main St., then moved in 1997 to an office on Minot Avenue in Auburn. The next move came in 2006, when operations for all areas, including administration, were combined to improve efficiency and reduce costs at a new, central facility on Merrow Road in Auburn.

Along with her work at Western Maine Transportation Services, she and her husband have raised one child of their own and 55 foster children, seven of whom they adopted.