Since 1979, UT Southwestern’s dining halls have had one staple through all of their transformations: the dedication of Andrea Litton.

Ms. Litton, a Food Service Worker, is celebrating 40 years on the job at UTSW. This month, she moved over to William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital to join the Food Services team there.

“I am going to miss everyone at the South Campus food court,” Ms. Litton says. “I love my boss, the other workers, and all the people who dine there.”

On South Campus, she moved quietly from table to table cleaning, moving trays, and changing trash bags when bins were full. Even after 40 years, she knows there is still room for improvement.

“I’m continuously working on my attitude,” Ms. Litton says. “I think I can be nicer to my boss.”

Her boss of the past two years, however, has nothing but kind words for her.

“She is always concerned about whether she is doing her job correctly, and I always let her know she is,” says Rick Stewart, Manager of Auxiliary Services Operations. “One of her cutest quotes is, ‘I did a fantastic job today,’ and I always let her know I notice that she did, in fact, do a fantastic job. She is always on time and knows when and where she should be on her daily schedule.”

A gold medal winner off campus – she once took home first place in a Special Olympics Bowling Tournament – Ms. Litton reveals that bowling is her enduring hobby. She also likes to dance, play guitar, swim, and go on picnics. Not surprisingly, she can sing, too.

“My favorite thing to sing is Christmas songs,” Ms. Litton says. “I know a bunch of Christmas music.”

When the food court closes, her tasks shift to vacuuming the floors and helping with storing pots, pans, dishes, and paper products.

By constantly circulating around the food court during her shift, she’s also become a one-woman lost-and-found department. “I’m always finding wallets, purses, umbrellas, and things that people left behind,” Ms. Litton says. “I like it when I can locate the owner of something lost.”

Those times make the job even more pleasurable, she says.

“I’m really happy to have worked at UT Southwestern all these years,” Ms. Litton says, praising her “wonderful” fellow employees. “I hope to be remembered as someone who works hard and is never late.”