She's lovin' it: 100-year-old McDonald's worker has no plans to retire

Ruth N. Shuster was crowned “Queen for a Day” at McDonald’s Big Mac Museum in North Huntingdon, a well-deserved honor for a loyal employee who has greeted customers at the eatery the past 27 years.

What made this honor — a throwback to Jack Bailey’s 1950s-era television show of the same name — so special for the Irwin woman is that it was part of her 100th birthday celebration.

“It feels great,” said a thankful Shuster, who was dressed in her McDonald’s uniform because Wednesday was a work day.

With about 40 friends and family members, McDonald’s management pulled out all the stops, draping her in a red robe, introducing a Ruth Shuster bobblehead doll for its display case and broadcasting congratulations from McDonald’s corporate executives. She even warranted an appearance — also via television — from Ronald McDonald, who sang a favorite song of hers, “You Are My Sunshine,” a popular tune of the 1940s.

She loves to dance and was doing a little bit of it with friends before the ceremonies.

When asked how it felt to be one of the lucky people to reach 100, Shuster took it in stride.

“I feel fine. It’s (reaching 100) the same as anything,” she said.

The fact she reached 100 is not all that surprising, given the longevity of her six siblings. One younger brother, Arthur, died at 93 in 2016, and another brother, Roy, died in 2018 at age 88. While the Social Security Administration does not have statistics available for centenarians in Pennsylvania this year, the agency said there were about 5,890 in the state in 2019.

Shuster’s longevity and her ability to work at 100 is certainly unusual among older Americans. She is among just 5.2% of the 6.5 million Americans age 85 and older who still hold down a job, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey from 2016. The Census Bureau survey did not have any statistics for centenarians who still work.

Working and keeping active is important to Shuster, said her son, Jack, of Derry, who was at the celebration with his wife, Mary Lou. He said his mother worked various jobs while he and his sister, Janet, who lives in Texas, were growing up. She has five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

“She never stops. She’d rather be working than sitting at home,” Jack Shuster said.

She has worked at the McDonald’s Big Mac Museum longer than many of her colleagues at the popular dining spot have been alive.

“Ruth is a very special lady,” said Michael Delligatti, owner of the restaurant, one of many McDonald’s franchises his family-owned company owns. Customers line up to be greeted by her, Delligatti noted.

With the covid pandemic shutting down indoor dining, Shuster has kept busy keeping the indoors clean.

“If you didn’t know Ruth, she made you feel like you’ve known her for all of your life,” Delligatti said.

One person who has known her all her life is a neighbor, Elizabeth Deslam, who decorated the front yard of her home with a “Happy Birthday” sign.

“She was so good to me when I was a little girl,” said the 29-year-old Deslam.

Growing up in Irwin

Shuster was born in the Brush Hill section of North Huntingdon, the daughter of Italian immigrants Jack and Mary Nicolette. Because she was born on the last full day of Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, she has the rare distinction of living through the terms of 19 presidents.

She went to the former Shafton and Scull schools, graduating from Norwin High School in 1938. Her formative years came as the United States was mired in economic chaos: the Great Depression of the 1930s. With her father working in a coal mine and nine mouths to feed, money was tight.

“Everybody was poor,” Shuster recalled matter-of-factly.

As a teenager, she earned money working for 18 months as a seamstress at a downtown Irwin business. It was work through the Works Progress Administration, an ambitious employment program that gave jobs to millions of Americans during President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration.

By the time she reached voting age in 1942, the world was engulfed in war and her family, like millions others, was part of it. All of her brothers joined the military, including Arthur, a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne who survived fighting Germans in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium.

She recalled meeting a young man from Herminie, Joseph F. Shuster, at a square dance in Manor. When he came home from the Army, the couple wed in April 1945. She has been a widow since 1971.

As for putting her McDonald’s uniform in the closest and resting now that she has reached the century mark, that’s not happening anytime soon.

“No way I’m going to retire. I love it here. I like my job, meeting people,” she said. “People are so nice coming in here, and the company’s good to work for.”

Her afternoon was capped off with a ride on an Irwin fire truck through downtown Irwin, where hundreds of people lined the streets to wish her a happy birthday. Stopping on Main Street in Irwin, she was greeted by Mayor William Hawley and serenaded with musicians playing polka music.