Known around the hospital as the “Candy Lady,” Ms. Patterson has been running her candy cart business at the hospital since the death of her husband in 1990. She sells her confections for less than a dollar to patients and hospital staff hungering for a sweet treat during the course of their stay at the facility. All of the proceeds are donated back to the hospital.
As a young woman in her 70s, Ms. Patterson brought her cart around the hospital daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and attempted to visit each patient’s room. Despite having to cut back her time at the hospital due to her age, she said it still gives her as much joy to set up shop for a few hours on Mondays and Wednesdays.
“I love my job and I take it just as serious[ly] as when I was getting paid … I am getting paid now, but it’s a different kind of payment,” Ms. Patterson told The Telegraph. “I can come in here not feeling perky and by the time a few customers go by [and] we’ve got it going on[,] my whole day changes … I smile at them and they smile at me.”
Prior to her 27-year volunteer career at the hospital, Ms. Patterson served at the Robins Air Force Base from 1947 until 1981.
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