In Loving Memory of Jackie (Nov. 13, 1937- Feb. 3, 2014)

From Cooking with Dysart’s: Stories and Recipes From Over 40 Years - 

An excerpt from the 1998 radio piece done by a student at The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies on the ambiance of the Trucker’s Room, and none other than our beloved waitress Jackie, who started working for us in 1979 and stuck around for 33 years. (For the record, the bricks are real!):

At first glance, all the rooms look the same. Fake brick walls, black pitchers of coffee at every table, but pretty quickly you get a feeling that the two rooms are quite different. There are no rules about seating here, but tourists and other travelers tend to sit in the main dining room, and the truckers make it a habit of sitting in the room to the left, at the trucker’s table. A white and green cross stitch sign hangs at one end of the table, the sign reads “Truckers Only”. Jackie made that one herself.

“Jackie, you walk in, she knows what you want. She’s been here a long time. She’s more of a friend than a waitress. Sure, she knows we come in, and we’re grumpy. That’s why we get along, because we work hard, and she knows that. She don’t candy coat nothin’”. (Trucker)

“Gentle, they’re kind. They act like big ol bears, you know, some of ‘em. And they’re like ‘rawr rawrr’ but they’re not, they are just like puppies. You know, they are just like regular guys. They unwind, and they like to talk. Lies or not, they are all their stories and they are stuck with it.”(Jackie)

“What are you going to do, harass me now today, or are you going to leave me alone?”(Trucker)

“You want me to, you old stud muffin?” (Jackie)

When Jackie was out for seven months one time recovering from surgery, a jar was placed at the fuel desk to collect money to help her out. Every week there was 200-250 dollars brought to Jackie. The truckers just said it was nothing, that they missed her and that she would do it for them. Many of them revere her like their second wife, the woman they pick on while they are on the road.

Check out the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies recipe in our last post. 

We’ll miss you Jackie!