By
Ayse Guner
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Air Force ROTC gives surprise award to UA employee
Betty Baker had no idea what awaited her as she began her morning work routine at 7 a.m.
In her two decades as a UA dining services employee, Baker, a well-known, 70-year-old "angel," has experienced a few surprises from her loved ones - in 1989, she received the "Outstanding Employee of the Year" award, and in 1999, students, staff and faculty signed a huge card for her after she spent eight weeks in the hospital with double pneumonia and bronchitis.
Yesterday was different, though.
Baker was revered like a general as she ambled down the aisle of the Social Sciences auditorium, slightly bent in her deer-like posture. Nearly 300 Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps members in the room, who nominated her to receive one of the organization's highest honors, cheered and applauded.
Baker received the Arizona Attitude award - the first time the award was given to someone outside the corps - in honor of her cheery, positive attitude.
Standing at the front of the sloping auditorium with her tearful eyes glowing, Baker quietly said, "Thank you, thank you," as she received her award - a pin with an Air Force emblem.
Col. Collin Flynn, a commander for the University of Arizona AFROTC, presented Baker to the crowd and gave her the award.
"We consider it very unusual to give it outside the corps," Flynn said. "But Betty is the person.
"No matter how we feel down in drill, she makes us feel uplifted," he added.
Even though Baker did not know all the names of the students she hugged in the auditorium, she kept smiling at the new faces and uniformed officials - after all, she was a newcomer to the "corps."
"When I walked in that room and saw all of those people from the military, I thought these wonderful boys and girls are preparing to defend our country," Baker said. "It is just a blessing to know (that) our nation is just in such good hands."
Optical engineering senior Nick Hebekeuser, who picked Baker up from the Memorial Student Union in a golf cart, walked her through the room explaining how their leadership labs work, which meet every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
This lab is what unites the students with Baker in the mornings. After they wake up at 4:30 a.m. to train and meet for their lab, they stroll down to the Fiddlee Fig to get breakfast.
Baker serves a warm smile with the morning's eggs and potatoes, psychology senior Sean Neylon said.
"She just always looks sharp in her uniform," Neylon said. "She is a very patriotic person."
Among her colleagues, Baker is known for her passion in assisting customers and remembering names and personal stories, especially those from the campus sports community. Sometimes she stays up late to watch UA basketball games on television, or listen to them on the radio.
"Anything you want to know about the game, she'll tell you," said her co-worker Carol Underwood, who has known Baker since 1980, when they worked at the Terrace Dining Room - now McDonald's.
The ailing Baker might leave her job in two or three years though, she said.
"I am taking it day by day," she said. "But so far, knock on wood."
Students who are used to getting their breakfast from Baker will miss the "angel" who is there every morning, said Lucas Spathes, an aerospace engineering senior and AFROTC member.
"You don't get a person in that career often," Spathes said. "When she is gone, you'll definitely notice that."
