THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610250187
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: CLOSE-UP
SOURCE: Janie Bryant
LENGTH: 120 lines
Edna Newby laughs now about the day she dashed into a meeting room to join other members of Maryview Medical Center's credit union.
She had taken a seat and made herself at home when she looked around and registered the faces of doctors and top administrators gathred for a hospital board meeting.
Newby blurted out a ``forgive me'' and excused herself. But everyone in the room just laughed.
After all, it's not like they didn't know the hospital's veteran cafeteria manager.
Know her?
Just this month they flew the longtime employee and her husband to Baltimore to give her the hospital's top employee award.
``It was like seventh heaven,'' Newby said, describing the royal treatment she and other recipients from around the country and even England received.
The pictures of those being honored by the Bon Secours Health System, which is based in Baltimore, were flashed up on a big screen while presenters talked about their accomplishments.
Newby had come a long way from the day in 1977 when she first rolled up her sleeves and started washing pots and pans for the hospital's cafeteria.
That duty didn't last long. Her supervisor saw in her someone with a lot of potential. In just three months, she became the food service supervisor.
Newby had shown up with a 1967 diploma from Norcom High School and what she describes as ``mother wit.''
Maryview took her education from there, sending her to seminars, workshops and summer stints at St. Louis University where she learned more about food service administration.
But a lot of what the hospital described as qualities ``every leader wishes they could clone,'' were just the work ethics her parents instilled in her, she said.
Her father, Edward Wright, retired as a sandblaster from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Her mother, the late Annie Williams Wright, worked as a maid for Portsmouth General Hospital for 25 years.
``My mother put her heart and soul into that job,'' Newby said.
That's the same kind of dedication that Newby puts into making sure 1,800 meals are served smoothly each day. That includes about 600 servings of apple dumplings and 60 pounds of London Broil - the most popular items on the cafeteria menu.
It's the kind of enthusiasm that makes her dress up as a witch every Halloween and don a Santa Claus hat at Christmas, or have everyone in the cafeteria wear long mustaches and Chinese hats and robes at Chinese New Year. Besides her cafeteria duties, Newby handles the catering of the hospital's special functions - events ranging from the annual dinner of the Portsmouth Academy of Medicine to corporate luncheons complete with swan ice sculptures. Newby is also one of about a dozen hospital employees who serve as associates of the Sisters of Bon Secours.
``We're kind of like an extended arm for them,'' Newby said.
Associates are charged with helping to see that caring and compassion are extended to patients and their families, as well as the community.
``I was just fortunate in my life to get a job like this that meets my personality,'' she said. ``And I'm kind of happy to be working with people that have the same values that I have about life.''
She remembers the day a board member she admired a lot stopped to praise her.
``He said `Newby, you work hard, and you're going to be a rich lady one day.''
Newby waited and waited for that to happen.
``One day I realized something,'' she said. ``I am rich. . . . So far as I'm concerned I'm as rich as Oprah Winfrey.''
Name: Edna H. Newby.
Nickname: Duck.
Neighborhood: Mount Hermon.
Number of years in Portsmouth: All my life. Grew up in Newtown.
Birthplace: 2112 Green St.
Birthdate: March 1, 1947.
Occupation: Cafeteria retail coordinator.
What job other than your own would you like? No other. I love what I do.
Marital status: Yes, to Melvin L. Newby.
Children/grandchildren: Antoinette, 29; Toinette, 24, and Melba, 20. Grandchildren - Melvin, 10; Ashley, 8; Brittany, 6; Terrence, 1, and Jeorge, 17 months.
Fondest childhood memory: Going to Seaview Beach on the first Monday in August each year.
First concert: Sunset Lake Park, 1962, James Brown.
What song or book title best describes your life? ``I Did It My Way.''
If you won the lottery, what's the very first thing you would buy? A new house.
If you could trade places for just one day with anyone in the world, who would it be and why? A comedian like Bill Cosby because he has clean humor, and I think the world needs to laugh more.
Biggest accomplishment: Receiving the 1996 Dedicated Service Award from Maryview Medical Center.
Most embarrassing moment: In high school, the day my wrapped skirt became unwrapped at a fire drill.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My insecurities about certain abilities.
Perfect way to spend the day: Down at Portside walking.
I can't resist: My grandchildren and children.
Favorite Portsmouth restaurant: The Quarterdeck.
Favorite Portsmouth hangout: Portside.
Biggest problem facing Portsmouth: Drugs.
If you had three wishes for Portsmouth, what would they be?
A school of the arts for our teen youth.
More activities for youth with proper supervision.
A playground for the handicapped.
Other than its small-town atmosphere, what do you like about living in Portsmouth? The family feeling in times of crisis. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Graphic
OTHER SERVICE AWARDS
Three employees from other areas of Maryview Medical Center also
received the Dedicated Service Award in Baltimore this month:
Catherine Bennett, business office coordinator at the Maryview
Nursing Care Center.
Mona Ellis, nursing supervisor on the Crisis Intervention Unit of
the Behavioral Medicine Center.
Terri Leggett, food services coordinator at Portsmouth General
Hospital. by CNB