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‘Just being Miss Vickye’
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Beloved Alpharetta lunch manager retires after 30 years By CHAMIAN CRUZ chamian@appenmedia.com ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Much has changed in the 30 years since Vickye Monger was hired to run the kitchen at Alpharetta Elementary School. Thousands of kids have gone through her lunch line, including the children and grandchildren of her former students, but her love for interacting with them remained throughout her career, which ended Friday, Dec. 17, when she left the kitchen for the last time. “It’s been a blessing,” Monger said. “... [The students] always made me feel like I was a part of their family. That was the best feeling. … When I don’t come back Jan. 3, I’m really going to miss the kids. They made the job worthwhile.” Alpharetta Elementary celebrated her retirement Dec. 15 by naming it Miss Vickye Day. During lunchtime, the students showered her with handmade letters thanking her for her friendship, and at the end of the day, Principal Cathy Crawford surprised her with a drive-by event. “You will always have a home here,” Crawford said. “We love you so much.” Teachers, staff, parents, and current and former students dropped by to bid her farewell. Others, shared messages of how she impacted them, saying that when former students reminisce about
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their time at Alpharetta Elementary, her name always comes up. “I’m always going to remember this,” Monger said. “Dec. 15, that is the day that I had here in Alpharetta. … It does not seem like time flew by that fast. It’s just amazing, and I’m so appreciative of everything because I’m just me. I just worked in the cafeteria. You never think that you make an impression on the kids, but I guess in some kind of way we formed a bond.” For nearly three decades, Monger, 63, has served as the school’s cafeteria manager. She was responsible for everything from maintaining milk temperatures to managing the staff’s timesheets. In the past 20 years, she said proudly, her kitchen also earned perfect scores during the health inspections twice a year. She is both excited and sad about retiring. The funny thing, she said, is she never set out to work in a school. When she moved to Alpharetta from Memphis, Tennessee, 32 years ago, she simply decided she wanted to do something in addition to being a mom to her two children, who are now 41 and 37. Her mom suggested she apply as a cashier at a local school. From there, Monger worked at several schools in the area before settling on Alpharetta
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Elementary, and the more she worked in the kitchen, the more she wanted to do it. She said the kids kept the job exciting. “I remember the day I came in,” Monger said. “I was scared. I was like oh my gosh, now I have to do this, but I did it and then I implemented different things like having an annual cookout, which we have not been able to do for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
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CHAMIAN CRUZ/APPEN MEDIA
Alpharetta Elementary School celebrates Cafeteria Manager Vickye Monger’s retirement Dec. 15.
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