ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

Since 1976, there has been at least one McDonald’s in Liberal, and also since that time, Fran Graves has been part of the local franchise.

Liberal’s original McDonald’s was built on East Pancake Boulevard and replaced a few years ago with a more modern look. A few years prior to that, a second location was added on North Kansas Avenue.

As one of the first employees hired at the local McDonald’s, Graves said much of what has kept her working in the restaurant are the customers themselves.

“I just love the people coming in,” she said. “You get to know people. You have regular customers. The people is the thing.”

Fifty years is quite the accomplishment in any line of work, but it is even more rarely seen in food service. Graves said she considered leaving McDonald’s a few times over the years, but she has stuck with it for half a century.

“I thought about changing for a while when I had kids, but it worked out,” she said.

In mid-April, customers, employees and owners Jason and Chrisy Milligan surprised Graves with a party at the north McDonald’s. Graves said she did not see the celebration coming.

“I was surprised,” she said.

Now with her fourth owners, Graves said she has enjoyed her time at McDonald’s.

“I just love the people when I come to work, and we have a good time and work,” she said. “Kids have changed a lot. A lot of things have changed from back in the day.”

Graves praised the customer support the two local McDonald’s locations receive, adding that support is what makes having restaurants possible.

“If we didn’t have the support from the community, we wouldn’t be here,” she said. “It’s the customers who make it —  the coffee groups who come in and the school buses that come in. We support the community, and they support us.”

Graves said she likes having gotten to work for 50 years in the same job.

“It feels good,” she said. “It feels like an accomplishment.”

While she may be slowing down, retirement is not in Graves’s future just yet.

“I want to cut down some of my hours, but I don’t want to quit,” she said.