Mary Harrison

Don’t be fooled by Mary Harrison’s reserved exterior. Underneath that quiet shell lives the soul of a comforting hand holder, a quiet cutup, and a spreader of sunshine.

She started work at UT Southwestern 40 years ago as a Housekeeper in Labor and Delivery, and she now supervises the housekeeping staff on the fifth and sixth floors of William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.

Ms. Harrison is serious about her job, always aiming for high scores for her team on patient satisfaction surveys. But she knows that working at UT Southwestern is far more than what appears on a job description.

“Sometimes when I see a patient or family members in the lobby, I go in all happy and upbeat. I ask: ‘How’s everybody doing?’” she says. “But if I see somebody who looks really upset, I’ll go and sit with them, and ask: ‘Do you want to talk?’ or ‘Is there anything I can do for you?’”

If she spies somebody crying, she offers tissues.

“If we can talk to them and send off a little sunshine, that’s a very good thing,” she says.

In addition to loving the dynamic with patients, she also cherishes the fellowship she’s found with co-workers.

“There are a few of my staff who get to work really early,” Ms. Harrison says. “We clock in at 6 a.m., but we get here around 5 a.m., and we have coffee and we talk, and we laugh, sitting in the break room.”

One person stands out: Margaret Mitchell – a fellow service milestone honoree this year.

They forged their friendship in the early days, when Ms. Mitchell used to report to Ms. Harrison. “Then when I lost my husband in 1998, she would call to check on me,” Ms. Harrison recalls.

“Now I talk to Margaret on the phone when I’m driving home. And when I’m leaving church, I’ll call her and let her know when I’m getting in the car, and she’ll talk to me up until I get into my house, and sometimes we get carried away and I’ll say: ‘Look, we gotta go to bed!’ She’s such a good friend to have.”

Ms. Harrison is also very close to her son, daughter-in-law, two grandsons, five brothers, and nine sisters, including Bernice Hawley, who’s a Surgery Technician at Clements University Hospital.