STILLPOINT Archive: last updated 06/14/2010
Pat Marcheterre, Deli Lead, Dining Services
After many requests to see her in STILLPOINT, I had the privilege of interviewing “Pat the Lunch Lady” to find out what inspires her. I had no idea what inspires her, though I did know how much of an inspiration she has been to many students. There are few who haven’t been a recipient of her warm spirit and smile as they move through the deli line in Lane, looking for a sandwich and receiving motherly conversation as well.
—Meg Lynch ’10
“Thirty years of making 150 sandwiches a day—and I’m not sick of it yet! I just love being a part of the Gordon Dining Services
family, and I love this environment. But what’s my true inspiration? It’s the students.
“I watch as they begin their journey, nervous and excited freshmen. My position is not academic, but I get to see them every day—when they’re happy, stressed, dying for peanut butter and fluff sandwiches. I watch as they mature into adults, readying themselves for the world, and finally as they graduate. The cycle changes every four years, and I’ve happily stayed.
“And then they come back. They come to the deli to say hello. They come with new stories, new spouses and growing families. I feel like old mother hen to them!
“I know I’m going to have to retire eventually, but I’m still not ready. It’s these kids. It’s the daily interactions I have with them,
the conversations.
“There’s one particular question students often ask me: ‘When we’re on break, do you make sandwiches?’ And I always reply, ‘I thank God every day for this job, but when you kids go on break, you can bet I’m not making sandwiches!’”
