In 1959, James Richardson got a job busing tables in the cafeteria at Baptist Hospital. Fifty years later, he is still going strong working full time for what is now Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
As if that weren't impressive enough, for more than 40 of those years, he also held a second full-time job at Forsyth Medical Center.
"I worked at those two jobs to help my mother," Richardson said.
At Wake Forest Baptist, Richardson, 67, is a team leader in the food-service storeroom. His shift starts at 4 a.m. and ends at 12:30 p.m. Every day, he fills orders from the medical center's cafeterias, delis and other food-service operations, including Meals on Wheels.
Wheeling a giant cart around, he might pull liquid eggs and bacon from a cooler for a cafeteria and then load another cart with crackers, canned pineapple and olives for one of the salad bars.
Mondays through Thursdays, trucks come in with supplies, and, on those days, he catalogs and stores the hundreds of items being delivered. On Fridays, he and the other workers focus on filling the larger orders necessary to hold all the departments through the weekend.
During the time that he also worked at Forsyth, he would scoot home after he was done at Wake Forest Baptist to grab a nap before heading over to Forsyth in time for a 3-to-11 p.m. shift as a supervisor in the housekeeping department. After getting off there, he would go back home and grab a few hours of sleep before getting up at 3 a.m.
Those who work with him are impressed by his energy and his work ethic.
"I think he's the Energizer Bunny," said Lorraine Comer, who works in the deli. "He outruns these young guys around here."
"I like to get it done," Richardson said.
Comer also appreciates his attitude.
"Every time I see him, he's the same way," she said. "He's always helpful, always friendly."
Like anybody else, Richardson said, he has days when he doesn't necessarily feel like smiling, but he believes that it's important to stay positive.
"It's something I have worked at over the years," he said. "You might not want to smile but you have to smile."
Shellay Jiles, a Meals on Wheels team leader, regularly works with Richardson.
"One of the best guys I ever worked with, and I'm not saying this because it's going in the paper," Jiles said. "I'm saying this because it's from the heart."
Richardson was born in Mount Carmel, S.C. -- population 237, according to the 2000 Census.
"When you get there, you've already passed it," he said.
He is one of nine children -- three girls and six boys, including a fraternal twin brother who died about 30 years ago. When Richardson was a child, the family moved to Winston-Salem. He was a student at Atkins High School when he got the busboy job. Once he got the job in the medical-center storeroom, he never saw any reason to look for a different one. He liked the work, he said, and, over the years, he has always had the good fortune to work with nice people.
Although he never married, he had a good friend -- Jackie Greene -- and her four children think of him as their father, Richardson said. When she died about four years ago, they had been together about 30 years.
From time to time, they would head to Atlantic City or Las Vegas to play the slots. Richardson is also a big sports fan. In particular, he keeps up with the Chicago Bears and with UNC Chapel Hill's football and basketball teams.
Retiring from Forsyth a few years back enabled him to take a longer nap in the afternoon. As long as he's feeling good, he sees no reason to retire from Wake Forest Baptist.
"It's a good place to work," he said. "I call this my first home because I'm here all the time."
kunderwood@wsjournal.com
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