By Josh Siatkowski | Staff Writer
With nearly 120 years of combined experience in Penland Dining Hall, Elaine Battle, Linda Benson and Donna Majors have served thousands — maybe even millions — of meals to the Baylor community. But the three are known for far more than flipping omelettes or making pizzas. Their careers are marked by countless relationships and acts of service that go beyond the women’s job descriptions.
Battle, Benson and Majors have served for four decades each in Penland. Benson will hit 41 years in September, Battle was recently honored for her 40th anniversary, and Majors is right behind at 38.
But all of their journeys to Baylor were surprisingly incidental. Battle needed a job in Waco while her husband, a military veteran, was stationed in Germany. Benson was looking for a new position when a nearby turkey plant announced layoffs. For Majors, it was as simple as walking into the building.
“I just came over and applied and put the application in,” Majors said. “And [in] the next couple days, [the manager] called me for the job.”
What’s kept them around is simple: a love that has extended to students, coworkers and every corner of campus.
“It definitely has to be love for me because I don’t think I could be at another job this long,” Battle said.
Someone to Lean On
Battle and Benson have worked together at the omelette station and salad bar for years, with Majors remaining nearby at the pizza station. While the three have built friendships over time, food service laws require physical barriers between them and the people they serve. But those barriers are figuratively — and sometimes literally — broken by the three every day.
Like thousands of Baylor alumni, 2019 graduate Erica Franklin often started her day with an omelette from Penland. What made her such a regular was not just the food, but the constant care from Battle and Benson.
“She really cared if I was eating in the morning,” Franklin said of Battle, whom she calls Ms. Elaine. “It made me go regularly.”
Franklin, now an actress, said Battle and Benson were highly attentive to her. From memorizing her omelette order to recognizing that an early breakfast meant an impending exam, she said Battle and Benson’s compassion reminded her of home in St. Louis. So much so that when Franklin’s parents visited campus, she affectionately introduced Benson and Battle to them as her aunts.
But in her own words, Franklin is just “one of many” community members the three have impacted. Majors, Battle and Benson have each formed a repository of interactions with the Baylor community — some humorous, others heavier. But they’ve embraced their collective role as a support system.
“It’s a good experience to deal with the students because they’re away from home and away from their parents, so we’re the next person for them to look up to,” Majors said.
Oftentimes, being someone to look up to has meant more than just offering a smile and small talk in the food line. For Battle, it has meant crossing to the other side of the counter to give a hug and a prayer.
“A student was having problems in his classes and stuff, and he didn’t know how he was going to tell his parents that he wasn’t doing too good in class, and so he started crying,” Battle said. “I came from behind the line, and I prayed for him, and that’s something I had never done. I said, ‘God, give me a word for right now. I’m not a minister, not like that, but give me the word to say to him, to help him.’”
For Majors, it has meant forming long-term relationships with families that come in. One of the most memorable visitors for her is “Miss Maggie,” who frequently brings her husband and children to Penland and prays over the staff.
“She had to leave to go back to China to take care of her mom and dad,” Majors said. “But she finally came back. And when she came back, she brought her mom and dad with her, and she brought them here to meet me, and so now we’re just one big, happy family.”
And for Benson, that commitment to support has even led her to open her own home to a student in need. The student, who Benson said was living in Germany at the time, was unable to return home for the summer due to financial reasons.
“When summertime came, she didn’t have nowhere to go, and I invited her to my home,” Benson said.
Benson said she still has contact with the student and receives messages from her, alongside others, at Christmastime.
A Working Friendship
In addition to their outward commitment to students, Battle, Benson and Majors have formed a friendship with each other. In addition to their 40 years together in Penland, the three are also all from the Waco area. Benson and Battle even attended the same high school.
“I just enjoy working with them,” Majors said. “We all get along every day.”
While the three share a number of memories that make them laugh, one of the first that came to mind for Benson was an incident at the omelette station.
“I tried to flip an egg, and it didn’t go so well,” Benson said, recounting the time she tried to replicate Battle’s omelette flipping skills. The result, Battle said, was a remade omelette and a burnt egg at the bottom of the stove.
“I told her, ‘From now on, you practice at home,’” Battle said as the three laughed.
Perhaps, though, the incident was a well-intended attempt to be more like Battle, whom Majors said many of the employees look up to.
“Miss Elaine [has] been here longer than us, and we follow in her footsteps,” Majors said.
Returning the Favor
For as long as they have worked for Baylor, none of the three have any plans to leave. When their managers ask if she’s thinking about retirement, she responds with an emphatic no.
“They say, ‘Ms. Elaine, where are you going to leave?’ And I say, ‘They’re going to have to drag me out of here,’” she said.
It’s not just love for the community they serve that keeps the three around. On the other side of the equation, they said they’ve taken a lot from their jobs, like respect from students and managers and growth in their roles.
In the same way that Benson, Battle and Majors love their community, they have felt that love reciprocated through acts of kindness, like when Benson’s first manager bought shoes for her.
“When I first started, I didn’t have money to get my work shoes,” Benson said. “I had some red Reeboks, and I wore them. And one day I got ready to go home, and [my manager] handed me a box, and it was a pair of work shoes for me.”
More recently, Battle was honored for her 40th year of service with a custom cake and a ceremony in Penland. It’s a celebration that Majors can expect in a couple of years, and one that Benson, nearing her 41st year, is owed.
“I’m grateful for … the respect that I’ve gotten here, the people that I’ve grown to love,” Battle said. “That’s what really has kept me here — respect [from] the students, the staff here, too. They really treated me with respect.”
