By Mike Hutchens
Union City Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–What Vicky Roberson has is contagious.
And it’s not the bone cancer she’s currently battling.
The high school cafeteria manager in the Union City School System, Roberson reports to work every day with a smile on her face and genuine care for her co-workers, faculty and the students she serves – just as she’s done since being hired 32 years ago.
“I do believe her attitude rubs off on people,” said Lora Linder, who works with Roberson as the Food Service director for all UC Schools. “You’d never know what Vicky is going through or has gone through, because of her sunny disposition.”
“She has such a passion for what she does and the kids. If we all had her attitude, this world would be a much better place.”
For her part, Roberson – who now oversees four ladies who serve around 350 lunches and 100 breakfasts ‑ fills a variety of roles in the cafeteria. And she refuses to have a pity party regarding her current health issues.
“I can’t have negative thoughts. They will just slow me down,” said the 63-year-old Roberson, who is actually in the midst of her second bout with the dreaded ‘C-word’ after being diagnosed with breast cancer in the fall of 2014. “These are the cards I’ve been dealt, and I’m just going to play the hand.”
“This is the only job I’ve ever had that I liked and I still wake up every morning happy that I get to come to work. I feel good. I don’t feel sick. I love the people I work with and for and I love the relationships I have with our students.”
Continually referring to herself as “the cafeteria lady,” Roberson wore a big smile while detailing her duties at UCHS. And there was little facial expression change even when she revealed her serious health issues.
“I started out as a salad-maker in 1986, but now, I just do what needs to be done. From ordering food and supplies to keeping records, to cooking and serving the meals to running the register, I help out where my ladies need me to,” she said. “We like to take care of our students and our guests.
“As far as my health, I’ve never truly been scared. I cried one time, when I told my kids. I cried for them and not for me. And then I told them, ‘We’re not crying anymore… we’re moving on.’ That’s what I’ve done. I haven’t let it consume my life or my thoughts.”
Roberson – who saw both parents battle cancer — underwent a round of chemotherapy before having a mastectomy in April of 2015. She then had radiation treatments.
She’s been taking a daily chemo pill (21 days, 7 days off) since October to combat bone cancer and says she’ll continue that “as long as it works for me.”
Roberson has found comfort in her job during her health trials.
She claims students confide in “the “cafeteria lady a lot, often telling her of what’s going on in their lives and casually taking advice.
“They like us … for obvious reasons,” she grinned. “And they tell us things that they might not tell other adults. Some may have a little attitude at first, but, if you’re persistent, they almost always open up.
“The students have been a great comfort to me during all this (cancer). Physically, mentally, spiritually … they’ve been awesome. They and the faculty took up money for me to help with some expenses of some medicine, and just them asking me how I was every day was very uplifting. The relationships I have with everyone here are a true blessing.”
Asked the biggest changes she’s seen over the years in lunchroom cuisine, Roberson there have been many.
She noted that “fried chicken day” – complete with all the trimmings (mashed potatoes, green beans and corn) – was a favorite 30 years ago. So, too, was “chili day” and “pizza day.”
Those menus have been replaced by chicken tetrazzini, chicken fajitas and crispitos — favorites of today’s students.
“They still like chili and we still serve the same brand of pizza, even though it doesn’t taste the same,” Roberson chuckled. “Salads are more popular now – it used to be the only ones eating salads were students on diets. And they drink a lot more water now.
“Some of our guys can still really eat though. I’ve seen some of them eat three full meals at lunch. They’ll eat six or eight crispitos at a time.”
Along with interacting with students and faculty, Roberson – who now is seeing kids and grandkids of students she first encountered more than three decades ago — said she’s most rewarded when former students return to visit and tell her she “made a difference.”
“Having them come back to see me, that’s such a blessing,” she stated. “A lot of them just want to let me know and see what they’ve done with themselves and that they are being successful.
“The best thing to hear now, though, is when they tell me, ‘I’ve grown up now and I get what you were saying back then.’”
And how does Roberson explain her “sunshine attitude?”
“I don’t know about that, but my sister used to say I had a gift,” she chuckled.
It’s one she shares with everybody.
Photo by Mike Hutchens.
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