Hive Café’s ‘mother’ back following heart attack
Photo by Rubén Salazar
Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner at SCAD’s Hive Café is the sort of work that doesn’t necessarily require a personal touch. Hungry students demand little more than good food served quickly but for Sharon McMillar the job is personal. She makes a point to connect with every new face and to share a bit of conversation — and a big smile — with just about everyone. So when her place in the serving line went empty recently, students and employees began to notice.
“I was at work; I thought I was having heartburn, but I was having a heart attack and I didn’t even know it,” McMillar said. “I just kept going and taking it easy, breathing in and out. By the time I got home for bed, I couldn’t take it no more. My body had shut down.”
McMillar was out of work for about three weeks recovering from the episode. Her absence was noticed, students say, though most were unaware she was away due to health problems.
“She’s like a mother, and she keeps you under her wing,” said Emily Badgley, a first-year film and television major from Toronto, Canada. “She really takes care of you and makes you feel like you’re back at home. She’s just lovely. I wish I would have known she was sick; that breaks my heart.”
Doctors at St. Joseph’s/Candler Hospital inserted a stent in one of McMillar’s arteries following the March 27 heart attack. She came back to work earlier than her husband wanted, but she said she missed the students.
“I know they’ve asked about me but I didn’t know they missed me. I thought I missed them more than they missed me,” McMillar said. “I can tell you, I favor these kids.”
Her personal relationship with the students is something her coworkers and supervisors value.
“She’s a great employee, courteous, does her job, comes to me with ideas… I wish I had another 15 of her,” said Sal Latona, director of operations for Bon Appétit, SCAD’s food service vendor. “She always comes to work with a smile on her face.”
Though McMillar said her doctors wanted her to return to work as soon as possible, her bosses are easing her back into her position, making sure she doesn’t take on too much.
“We recognized her energy and the relationship she builds with the students, and because of her heart attack we wanted to check up on her and ensure she feels welcomed back,” said Latona.
McMillar said she’s been resting, taking time to catch her breath, not doing anything too strenuous and she’s given up unhealthy habits that might have contributed to the heart attack.
“Of all the things in my life I thought would happen, I didn’t expect this,” said McMillar. “I have to stay away from salt, cigarettes — I have to change everything. You just have to change your diet, and it’s hard, especially not picking up another cigarette.”
She’s getting plenty support from her husband and her six adult children, she said, but being back at work, surrounded by young people, puts her in her element.
“I’ll always love children,” said McMillar. “I love helping them. They all call me their ‘mama,’ but I don’t even see it that way. I’m just welcoming them. I just love them just as they are. That’s how I feel about them and I guess that’s how they feel about me.”
