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LAUREL – Dorothy Patefield has baked love into students’ favorite school meals for the last 19 years.
And in return, she receives hugs - lots of hugs as Laurel-Concord-Coleridge school’s food service manager.
“That’s going to be hard and brings tears to my eyes, so many hugs,” she said. “Starting out 19 years, starting out and seeing them go all the way up and graduate.”
Patefield will be retiring at the end of this school year, packing up nearly two decades’ worth of memories.
She worked as in-home daycare provider for 27 years. When she decided to do something else it was easy to return to her alma mater, graduating from Laurel in 1972.
She started as a part-time cook and part-time janitor and was eventually promoted to her current position as food service manager.
Her duties include overseeing three kitchen staff, ordering food, making menus and keeping up with ever-evolving guidelines for school lunches, and paperwork — so much paperwork.
“I can’t even begin to tell you from the time I started to now how many changes we’ve been through, a lot of changes — some huge changes,” Patefield said.
Students especially appreciate her homemade pizza, orange chicken, sweet and sour chicken, chicken nuggets, super nachos and tater tot casserole.
Serving tasty food is a point of pride for Patefield.
“Our fresh fruit and veggie bar, we’re really proud of ours in Laurel. It’s colorful. There’s a lot of variety and the kids demolish it,” Patefield said. “And we’re a really friendly kitchen. The whole staff is just really friendly.”
Patefield said she always felt appreciated and respected by everyone - from the administration, teachers and staff to parents and students. She will look back fondly on her interactions with students especially. In her early years at LCC, Patefield would fill in wherever needed including in the library or in janitorial. “One little boy asked me one time if I lived there (at the school),” she said. “I thought that was kind of cute. I’ve been called ‘the cooker lady,’ ‘cooker teacher.’” She’s not always recognized outside of school without her customary hairnet and apron. But Patefield recalls shopping and a student running across the store to give her a hug. The students’ parent didn’t recognize Patefield, which made the exchange a bit awkward at first, she said with a smile. One thing Patefield really won’t miss is her 5:30 a.m. start time or having to travel to school early on snowy winter days. While she’s saying a fond farewell to her school family, Patefield is looking forward to spending time with her children and grandchildren during her newfound free time in retirement.
