94-year-old McDonalds worker celebrates 44th job anniversary
<p>Last year, <a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/04/79-year-old-works-at-mcdonalds-and-loves-it/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">we brought you the story</span></strong></a> of 79-year-old Graham Berndt, a Brisbane man who swapped retirement for a McDonald’s uniform five years ago and never looked back. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, a 94-year-old American woman is giving Berndt a run for his money.</p>
<p>When she was in her 50s, Loraine Maurer decided instead of retiring, she would keep active with a job at her local McDonalds in Evansville, Indiana. “When I started, I didn’t start to stay,” she told <em><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/94-year-woman-celebrates-44-years-working-mcdonalds/story?id=46386408" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">ABC News</span></strong></a></em>. “I told [my husband] we were too young to stay at home and so I went for a job.”</p>
<p>Forty-four years later and she’s still working the cash register every morning on Friday and Saturday and never fails to eat McDonald’s during every shift. “I get in here at 5 o’clock when they open. I have to get up at three,” she told the <em>Evansville Courier & Press</em>. “If the weather was bad, [my customers] would come after me in the morning, and when my shift was over, they came over to McDonald’s and picked me up and took me home. You can’t ask for more than that.”</p>
<p>To mark her latest job anniversary, dozens of fellow employees and loyal customers joined Loraine for a celebration. “My customers make my life,” she told <a href="http://people.com/human-interest/mcdonalds-94-year-old-woman-employee/" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">People</span></em></strong></a>. “I have travelled with them, gone to ball games with them. They’re friends, not just customers.”</p>
<p><img width="500" height="354" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/34702/image__500x354.jpg" alt="mcdonalds anniversary" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></p>
<p>And it’s not just the customers who appreciate her decades of hard work. “After all these years, she remains committed to serving her customers with one of the most delightful smiles around,” said the store’s owners, Chip and Katie Kenworthy. “Loraine has a loyal following of customers and they look forward to having her take their orders when visiting McDonald’s.”</p>
<p>Judging by how healthy she looks, it does prompt the question – could a cheeseburger and fries be the secret to a long life?</p>
<p><em>Image credit: Katie Kenworthy/ABC News.</em></p>
