Women's History Month: Annie Macklin

At just 16 years old, Annie Macklin asked her mother to sign some paperwork so that she could leave high school and get married. She joined the Johnston-Willis Hospital family shortly thereafter with the help of more creative paperwork that claimed she was a year older. That was in 1961. She has spent the past 61 years preparing and serving food in the cafeteria, and has seen an incredible amount of transformation within the hospital whose previous location was the present-day Kensington Court Apartments in Richmond’s Museum District.

Not surprisingly, she is the most tenured colleague at Johnston-Willis. She has diligently cooked meals from scratch back when there were segregated dining rooms and during an era when the post-church crowds packed the cafeteria. She said she also remembers when everyone had to leave an elevator if one of the hospital leaders walked in. Through all the societal and culinary changes, the self-described workaholic says the patients are her favorite part of the job.

“I love taking care of people,” Macklin said. “And I like to keep people happy, and I know people love to eat. It’s the main thing people love.”

She said her favorite meals to cook had been soul food, along with her hospital-famous vegetable soup that her colleagues urged her to sell at a local market. In addition to the way food has changed over the years, so have the people. She said she everyone is more rushed and stressed than ever before. 

“I started as a tray person, then I started cooking when I was about 19 or 20,” she said. “I was taught how to set the tables; my dietician gave me a book about how to set-up everything. I used to work in the doctors’ lounge and helped decorate for events. Not that I try to be perfect, but I like to do things in decency.”

Macklin — who went back to school in her 50s and earned her GED while working full-time — doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. When she’s off for a couple of days, she said she’s always ready to come back to work.

When asked about her secret to staying motivated all of these years, she said she shows up for the patients and her coworkers, some of whom encourage her to publish a cookbook and write about her life.

“I just keep moving,” she said.