Waitress celebrating half-century serving up burgers at only job she's ever had

By KATIE FERRELL & JASON M. VAUGHN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Judy Eddingfield has had just one job in her entire life ... but if you really love what you're doing, then why change?

Eddingfield this week celebrated her 50th anniversary as a waitress at Winstead's on the Country Club Plaza. She's been there so long that she remembers when you could get an entire meal for under a dollar.

"Could get a fry, a single, a fry and a coke for 65 cents," said Eddingfield, who started working at the Kansas City institution on April 6, 1965 as a 15-year-old. "It's like my home away from home and I just love it here."

Eddingfield says that working at Winstead's has always been a family affair.

"I had two brothers, my sister, my mother, two aunts, two cousins and lots of friends that have worked here," said Eddingfield. "I was three years old when my mother started here, so I've been eating these burger 60 some years."

Winstead's opened on the Plaza nearly 75 years ago, on September 18th, 1940. Restaurant general manager Kathi Fern says that Eddingfield's old-fashioned service is what sets her apart.

"It's just amazing the way she treats her customers," said Fern. "I call her my dinosaur. She's a dying breed and there will never be servers like her again."

Eddingfield says she never thought she'd be at Winstead's this long either.

"The customers really make it special," she says.

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