An Afternoon with Marge Stewart
Two weeks ago, I had the immense pleasure of sitting down and talking about life with a wonderful woman named Marge Stewart. We chatted about everything from her family and her relationship with her husband to pool leagues and the Pittsburgh Steelers. All the while, she was just happy and cheerful as could be.
I met Marge five years ago when I was a student at Bowling Green State University. Marge was(and still is) a cashier in the student union food court and I had randomly chosen to stand in her line. I walked up to pay, expecting, and fully prepared for, the normal exchange of solemn "hellos." Boy, did I get a kick in the face! "Well, hello there, dear! It's such a wonderful day, isn't it?" I was actually speechless for a moment, as I'm sure many other Marge first-timers may be. We engaged in a brief conversation about the weather and I continued on to class with a smoothie in my hand and a massively uplifted spirit.
From that day forward, unless she wasn't on the clock, I would stand in Marge's line. It didn't matter if I had to wait twenty minutes to get to the end and experience those few precious minutes of sunshine, surrounded by a campus full of overcast people. That's what had me coming back. Marge truly cared about her customers. This was a woman, whom I did not know, that learned my name by our third encounter. This was a woman who would go out of her way to make students and faculty alike feel as if they were the most important person on campus.
When I decided to begin this new project, I immediately knew who I should choose for the first interview. Marge is a person so contagiously full of life and love that, when you're near her, you can't help feeling like a million bucks. Here's the transcript from our talk the other day.
"My name is Margret Stewart, known as Marge."
How has your day been today?
"Today's been a crazy day. Very very busy, but it's been a good day. Everybody is in a good mood because of the weather. It makes everybody more cheerful."
How did you come to work at your current job down in the Falcon's Nest?
"Oh golly.. You mean at the university in general or just at the nest?"
Lets say the university in general.
"I wanted another job. I had been bar tending and doing odd jobs, a couple of part time jobs. And I wanted something more stable so the university was hiring and I put in an application and I received and interview. I was hired the next day. So I started out at Kreisher, went to Commons which I don't know if you remember. It's where the old parking used to be. The police station. And I went from there to the union and I've been there ever since!"
Tell me about someone that is important to you.
"Someone that's important to me... I'll say right now, my mother's the most important person to me next to my husband. [It'd] be my mom because she's getting up there now and, you know, I've noticed over the last couple years that she's getting older and she doesn't quite do things the way she used to. And she's just.. my mom! She got a new knee last Summer and since she got her knee replacement, her leg's been hurting, you know, if it it's not one thing, it's another."
What keeps you going every day? What gets you up in the morning?
"Oh, everything. Life in general. Oh, my family, my husband, the sunshine, the birds. I just love everything about life. I love to go outside in the morning and sit on the deck with a cup of coffee and just look at the sky and listen. No music, just listen to the music of nature. You know, I just.. I love everything about being alive."
You don't normally hear that from people in food service. In most cases, by the way people act, it seems like they don't have anything to be happy about.
"I don't understand. I find joy in so many things and it really blows my mind that other people don't see it. They let their lives be taken over by all the negative and that's what they.. I swear they look for it instead of looking for the good and looking for the sunshine and, you know, and everybody thinks I'm a little weird. And I'm not a Polly Anna. I know that bad things happen out there. I'm not stupid but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the good things, you know. My husband, when was still working, he worked on campus at grounds. His buddies over there asked him 'Is Marge that way at home all the time? The way she is around you and she is at work?' and Dave says 'Yeah, pretty much!' And they're like 'Man, you are lucky!' *laughs*"
Well if you're anything like this at home, he got a good catch.
"Oh, we have the time of our life together. We keep eachother laughing. He's a nutcase and so am I. *laughs* I love him. I hear people complain about their marriages but we have a good marriage. We have for fourteen years now. We still smile at each other."
Have you ever been accused of something that you didn't do?
"Wow.. I'm going all the way back to childhood. Oh, I used to always get in trouble when I was a kid. Yeah, I did. Mary Lou, she's my middle sister and she was always telling fibs about me. So, yeah, I did get in trouble for some things I never did because she didn't want to get in trouble. *laughs* But, let's see, I've never done anything. I can't say I have except for kid stuff."
How many siblings do you have?
"Two, I have two younger sisters. Yep. Marge, Mary Lou and Michelle."
How was it, growing up as the oldest sibling?
"It was kind of neat because Michelle was an oops baby so she was ten years younger than I was and it was really cool to have a little baby come around when I was already in fourth grade. Yeah, she's still my BFF *laughs*."
Do you know the circumstances of your birth?
"I know that mom and dad were playing cards the night that mom went into labor. I was stubborn, mom said. She was in there, she said sixteen hours which isn't a real long time but for a first baby, it was. And I was born at 1:30 in the morning and my dad wasn't allowed in because back then, the dads weren't allowed in. I just know that I was the first girl in like five generations on my dad's side of the family so I was like the greatest thing since sliced bread! *laughs* And I was spoiled rotten by my dad's side. And then all my dad could do was make girls! And my nephew too, my sister's boy. My dad would've been his grandfather. Matthew's got three girls and we told him 'You're just like grandpa. You're destined to have three girls. But then he had a fourth one and he got a boy so they were very happy because Erica was like 'This was going to be the last one!"
Have you ever come close to death?
"Yeah. I... You could say I was dead at one time. When I had my open heart surgery. Cause I was put on the bypass machine so technically, it was doing the breathing and the oxygen for me and my heart was stopped. And they had to restart it when the surgery was over. So, that was the closest I've come and that's the closest I want to get."
Were you nervous, going into the surgery?
"Actually, I was a lot more upbeat than like the rest of my family. They were terrified. My poor mom, and my niece was just beside herself. She's been my special little girl since she was born and I guess when they gave me the drugs, Dave said I was on my way to Paris. He said 'You were just waiving at everybody, and telling your mom not to worry. Mom, I'm going to go to Paris. I'll be back.' So I don't remember... I may remember being scared a few times. You know, asking God to make sure, please let me get up. Let me wake up from this. Don't take me yet. I still have a few things that I want to do. It was scary but I didn't dwell on the bad part either. You know, I wanted to get better and come back. It was an ordeal. I wouldn't wish it on anybody."
When or how(or both) did you meet your husband?
"I met my husband through a mutual friend. They played on the same pool league together so I would go with Stu to watch him shoot pool and that's how I met Dave. And we just started going out and we realized right away that something clicked."
So it was an instant thing. It wasn't really a progression?
"No, It was love at first sight. Maybe second sight. He asked me to marry him on our second date and I said yes. I knew it was right. It'll be fourteen years next Monday. See, you now when it's real. You just know. I really didn't think I would get married. I was happy being single, you know. And I thought 'If I do, I do. If I don't, I don't.' I've got my family and my good job and things that I want to do but boy, when it hit, it hit like lightning."
What is your favorite thing to do with your husband?
"Oh, my favorite thing to do with Dave... Play Scrabble. Because he always whips my butt and one of these days, I'm going to beat him. I'm going to beat him! I can kick his butt at Trivia games. Any trivia game in the world but I can not beat him at Scrabble. One of these days, I'm going to get him. And then we love to watch sports together too."
"Baseball, football, hockey.."
The football season just started. Which is your favorite team?
"The Steelers! See? *pulls up pant leg to show a Pittsburgh Steelers tattoo on her ankle* I know. Everybody's so shocked when they see. They say 'Marge has a tattoo. Oh my gosh!"
Is that your only tattoo?
"That's the only one. The only one I ever wanted and it's the only one I'll ever get. That's where I'm from. I was raised here but I was born right outside of Pittsburgh. My extended family is all back there."
"Oh yeah. Oh yeah. My aunts and uncles and cousins, some of them are still there. And my mom's brothers and sisters. Pittsburgh is a great city. I've been back there a lot."
What was your biggest dream as a child?
"Oh golly. That's a hard one. That's so hard! My biggest dream when I was a child... I really can't answer that. I can't think of one. When I was a child maybe it was to get married but as I grew up, I realized that it didn't matter if I did or not. I really didn't wish for anything big, I guess, or I would've remembered it. *laughs* so maybe I didn't wish for anything big. That could be. Cause I was just a normal kid. I just lived from day to day. I didn't think about the future was going to bring. Most kids don't. I really don't have an answer for that."
What do you like to do for fun?
"I like to watch sports. We like to play games like trivial pursuit, uno, you know table games with friends. We love to get together and do that. I'd like to say that stuff like that is the most fun for me. Just getting together with friends and hanging out, yeah."
Do you have a bucket list?
"You know what? I really don't have a bucket list because I've already done everything in life that is important to me. I've found the man I love, that I married. I had the most wonderful parents. Great sisters, nieces, and nephews that I love beyond anything and I really don't think that there's anything out there that could top that. I really don't. I just think that that's really what matters in life is your family. And I mean, I could win a trip to the Caribbean and I wouldn't say no to it but, you know, there's really not anything much out there that I want to do. That I'm going to strive to do before I die. Let's put it that way. If I, you know, would win a new car, I'd be 'yay!' But well, I'm pretty happy with things the way are. Well, there might be one thing. Just, get my house in order with the good lord a little more. *laughs* yeah, let him know that, you know, I'm still here."
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