Loraine Maurer is a 94 year-old woman who has worked at her local McDonald’s in Evansville, Indiana for 45 years!

Loraine explained that she first started working at McDonald’s in 1973, after her husband retired on disability.

“When I started, I didn’t start to stay,” Loraine said. “I told him we were too young to stay at home and so I went for a job.”

Loraine is very popular at the restaurant, beloved by everyone including owners Chip and Katie Kenworthy.

“Loraine has quite a following. That’s to say the least, really,” said Katie, who has owned the restaurant for three years. “She has lots of very loyal costumers who come especially to our restaurant to see her.”

To celebrate Loraine’s long tenure at the restaurant, Katie decided to throw a party for her, inviting her church, Good Shepherd Catholic Church Parish, as well as her family and friends.

“It was wonderful,” Loraine said of her party. “The only thing is there were so many people there that I couldn’t talk to them all.”

Loraine, who has four children, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, said that her strong bond with her customers has helped to get her through difficult times in her life. One of these tough moments was when her husband passed away in 1980.

“They were my live savers when I lost my husband,” she remembered. “The customers helped.”

Loraine works two days a week these days, and while she thinks about retiring each winter, she can’t bare to give up her shift.

“I would miss it too much,” she said. “I don’t want to get depressed and it’s not that I don’t look forward to going to work. … It’s not a job.

“I really and truly enjoy it,” Loraine concluded. “Life is what you make it. And so I’m trying.”