PHOTOS BY KRISTY GRAVER

On Jan. 12, after 45 years at the Gibsonia McDonald’s, 84-year-old Dot Sharp served her last Egg McMuffin. It was the epitome of a happy meal. 

Dotty Sims, her granddaughter, namesake and a fellow Mickey D’s employee, was her final drive-thru customer. Two decades ago, when Sims started her own career with the company, Sharp was her first patron. 

“I’ve loved all of my customers and the people I’ve worked with,” Sharp said as she removed her headset and, with glistening eyes, passed it to co-worker Margaret Beyer.

I felt a lump in my throat as I looked at a collage of old photographs from Sharp’s life under the Golden Arches. I haven’t cried that hard at McDonald’s since the ‘80s when I got my head stuck in the bars of the Officer Big Mac Climb-in Jail. 

This fond farewell was playing out like some kind of Hallmark Channel movie or a fast food “Steel Magnolias.”   

A FAMILY PHOTO OF DOT SHARP ON THE JOB

Sharp’s first shift was on Sept. 7, 1978, a little over three months before I was born. After every obstetrician appointment, my pregnant mother would stop at the eatery — which, at the time, was located a few miles from the current site at 200 Walmart Dr. — to grab a Big Mac from the drive-thru. 

I’m convinced Sharp served those burgers, making her directly responsible for my innate love of two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

In another sappy moment of serendipity, I realized I had attended Rowan Elementary School with Meghan Sweeney, who, along with her dad, Paul Sweeney, owns and operates the Gibsonia spot and 21 other McDonald’s restaurants in the region. 

I hadn’t seen her in more than 30 years, but recognized her smiling face immediately. Over retirement cake, we reminisced about former classmates, teachers and McDonaldland characters such as Birdie, Grimace and the Hamburgler. (I still have my McNugget Buddy Happy Meal Toy!) 

Meghan’s grandfather, John Sweeney, and a business partner met McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc in 1955 and, soon after the fateful encounter, opened the first McDonald’s stores in Western Pennsylvania. Today, the franchise organization, Tri County Management, is a three-generation family business based in Cranberry, where Meghan and I grew up.

The childhood McMemories were as thick as the tarter sauce on a Filet-O-Fish!

Like me, my daughter, Sarah, loves to chow down on a Quarter Pounder with Cheese every now and then. Since she had the day off from school, she accompanied me to the interview. 

Area Supervisor Jeff Stewart gave her a tour of the facility and let her ring in her order. His kindness and patience warmed my heart, even while we were standing in the walk-in freezer talking about McFlurries.

As a teenager with autism, Sarah’s had a rough time in junior high. Today, I saw her grinning from ear to ear. She even wants to get a part-time job at the eatery.

My kid has big shoes to fill now that Sharp has stepped down. The McDonald’s matriarch says she will spend her retirement vacationing and enjoying family time.

But you can bet your Big Mac she’ll be back at McDonald’s for lunch.