When Waffle House customers leave the restaurant, a friendly reminder to return is posted on the door: “We’ll see you next time.”
The goodbye quote didn’t come from a marketing expert, but from the longest-serving hourly employee in the company.
“We got that from Miss Lucy,” Waffle House Vice President of Marketing and Communications Pat Warner said.
That’s how Lucy Shelton greeted customers on their way out the door during the 47 years she worked as a Waffle House waitress and greeter in the Atlanta area.
In particular, it was her trademark saying at the East Point unit at 1674 Washington Road, where she worked for 16 years before retiring in 2004.
At East Point, she had a reputation for remembering her customers’ names and the details of their lives, no matter how infrequently they visited, Mr. Warner said.
“It was said that if you came into the restaurant and Miss Lucy didn’t know you, then you must have been from out of town,” he said.
Waffle House co-founder Joe Rogers Sr. said Mrs. Shelton was “kind and sweet” to everyone she met, and was loved by customers and co-workers.
“She had a welcoming presence and sincerely cared about and appreciated her customers,” he said.
Lucy Bell Booker Shelton, 85, of Atlanta died Monday at Emory University Hospital from medical complications due to dehydration, said her son, Charles Shelton, also of Atlanta. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Bethlehem Baptist Church, 1140 Pierce Dairy Road, Madison. Young Funeral Home in Atlanta was in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Shelton was born in 1925 to Richard and Julia Booker of Madison. As a young adult, she moved to Atlanta in 1952 and was hired as a waitress at the Wagon Wheel restaurant on the corner of 10th Street and Peachtree Street, said her son.
He said during those days, it was unusual for an African-American to find work on Peachtree Street because of racial segregation. Mrs. Shelton was often asked to take restaurant earnings to the bank for change, another responsibility not often trusted to an African-American worker during that time, her son said.
“She was just trusted,” Mr. Shelton said.
In 1957, Rogers and his partner, Tom Forkner, purchased the Wagon Wheel and turned the restaurant into their second Waffle House unit. Mrs. Shelton, who already had a popular following, stayed on as a waitress, Mr. Warner said.
“Lots of customers came in just to see Miss Lucy,” he said.
Mrs. Shelton worked at the Peachtree Street Waffle House until the late 1960s when it was closed by the company. She transferred to a Waffle House in Clarkston and spent the last 16 years of her career at the East Point location.
Mrs. Shelton was such a fixture in East Point that additional workers were needed each year on her birthday because so many customers would come to greet her, Mr. Warner said.
Mr. Shelton remembers customers asking specifically for his mother’s help. She would bring them to their table and treat them with kindness, he said.
“I learned a whole lot from my mother about dealing with people,” said Mr. Shelton, a retired law enforcement officer with the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department.
He said his mother loved her job, so much so that she became depressed after her retirement.
Mrs. Shelton always said she never wanted to work anywhere else, her son said.
“She loved the Waffle House because she knew the people she worked with and they knew her,” Mr. Shelton said.
Her husband, Luther Shelton Jr., died in 1974.
Other survivors include two daughters, Julia Helton and Inez Harper, both of Atlanta; nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
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