By Crystal Hayduk
Sue Gregg will ring in 2016 free of the need to go back to work.
The Chelsea School District food service director’s retirement will become official on Dec. 31, but her last day on the job at school will be Dec. 18.
With tears in her eyes, Gregg shared mixed emotions about her retirement. On one hand, she is certain that this is the right time to end her full-time employment in favor of having more time to do things with her family, but on the other hand, the people she works with are important to her, too. “We are a very nice family here in the district,” said Gregg. “We’re friends outside of work, too. I don’t want that to end.”
Gregg and her family moved to Chelsea 22 years ago from Taylor, Mich. She was a stay-at-home mom to her four children until her youngest daughter started kindergarten 19 years ago. At that time, she began employment with the district as a playground monitor at North Creek Elementary School.
Before long, she became the assistant cook at Pierce Lake Elementary School. After two years, she transferred to the high school where she was the food service coordinator for 13 years, reporting to the director, Karen Carty. Following Carty’s retirement four years ago, Gregg moved into the position of food service director.
One of the things that pleases Gregg as she looks back on 19 years with the district is her ability to move up through the ranks from playground monitor to food service director. She also feels that her work and efforts were rewarded when she earned the coveted ServSafe (an accredited food safety training program) certification.
Gregg credits her co-workers for helping her along the way and being pleasant to work with. “I’m proud of every one of my girls,” she said. “We always got along, and I am going to miss seeing them every day.”
While Gregg admits that being a manager means being “on your toes all the time,” she also said that she could not have had a better team. “They do their jobs,” she said. “Nobody ever gave me a hard time. I can’t imagine doing this job without them.”
This school year, Gregg has been coordinating with the Chelsea Wellness Coalition on the Farm-to-School program, paid for through grant funding. Beginning in January, farmers and chefs will visit the elementary schools on a monthly basis to help the children learn new things about vegetables. She’s sorry that she will not be here to see this program fully implemented, but she’s glad that she could be a part of bringing it to the district.
Teresa Zigman, executive director of business and operations, said that Gregg has been an integral part of the district’s food service program for the last 19 years. “Sue has done a wonderful job of taking care of the staff, students, and our senior citizens,” said Zigman. “With Sue’s partnership with the Chelsea Senior Center (CSC), she and Trinh Pifer (CSC director) brought the meal preparation for Washtenaw County’s Meals on Wheels program to Chelsea. Ever since then, the program has grown by leaps and bounds.
“Many of the staff members that Sue supervises (and works alongside of) have been with the district almost as long as she has, and they are an amazing part of the Chelsea School District family. It will be very hard to find a person with Sue’s knowledge of Chelsea and rapport with the staff and students, and we will miss her tremendously.”
