Legendary local waitress is turning 100

GREENFIELD — John and Phyllis Combs of Mason City say there's only one place in Iowa where you can get a Maid-Rite sandwich like John remembers them growing up in Greenfield in the 1950s, and that's at Taylor's Maid-Rite Cafe in Marshalltown.

Otherwise, John's mother Francine likely knows a thing or two about how they're made. A key portion of her long career waitressing in Greenfield was at the Maid-Rite located on the corner of Highways 25 and 92.

Francine donned a waitress apron for the first time when she was 18 in 1938. After working at several eateries here in a career that lasted over 65 years, she retired in 2004 at the age of 84.

"Every restaurant there ever was in Greenfield, she was a waitress there," said Phyllis Combs, Francine's daughter-in-law married to her oldest son John, in a recent interview with the Adair County Free Press.

Combs will celebrate her 100th birthday at Greenfield Rehabilitation and Health Care Center July 11 with a card shower. It's not how her family would've liked it, but COVID-19 said otherwise.

The Joy Ann

Combs, who was actually born in France before her family moved her when she was 4 months old, got her first job at a place called the Joy Ann.

Combs was happy to get 25¢ for a tip there, Phyllis said. The restaurant, located on the northwest side of the square, was where Greenfield's first juke box was, and it was home to a steady lunch crowd each day.

"My father told me I could live at home as long as I got a job," Francine told Terri Queck-Matzie in a Free Press article when she was retiring. "Apparently I wasn't moving fast enough, because he came home one day and told me he had found me one."

She went back to work, and never left

Francine retired for a short while when John was born and first returned to work at the soda fountain at Louk's Drug Store. For much of the 50s, Combs worked at the Maid-Rite Cafe, where she would stay through seven different owners.

Crowds dwindled noticeably, Combs told Queck-Matzie, when Interstate 80 opened in the late 50s.

In the early 1990s, Combs worked at the Phoenix Cafe on the square. She began working at Bon's Bakehouse in the late 1990s, and she retired in Dec. 17, 2004 from there.

Growing up with busy parents

John was 13 years old before any of his other brothers were born, so he grew up at a time when his mother was working a lot. His father, Frank, worked for Schildberg Construction Company.

"It was small town," John remembers. "She was working at Maid-Rite, so you behaved yourself because if you didn't someone would tell her. That kind of kept you on the straight and narrow."

John and Phyllis are disappointed but understanding of the fact that they won't be able to be with Francine to celebrate her becoming a centenarian due to coronavirus restrictions.

John and his siblings all moved away from Greenfield in adulthood, forcing Francine to become independent, especially when Frank passed. Francine was very involved for a long time volunteering for the hospital or Legion Auxilary, so her dedication to being independent was likely not a surprise to anybody close to her.

"I was hoping to be able to take cupcakes in for the residents and staff, but nope. That's OK, it is what it is," Phyllis said. "I'd rather they stay safe. They haven't had any issues there."