Every weekday morning, Vandenberg cashier Patricia Wiseman assumes her position at the front door of Vandenberg Dining Center. She spends her shifts swiping a vast amount of student IDs, but she always manages to have a warm smile on her face every day. Without fail, Wiseman looks up at every student who walks in with her large round glasses and wide grin.

“Hi, how are ya doin’ today?” she says.

Wiseman has been working at Oakland University for 15 years.

“I live just down the road so it’s nice and close to home,” Wiseman said. “And I enjoy the children, I call (them) all children.”

Her past jobs include working at Hudson’s, the Avondale and Rochester schools cafeterias and other well-known places in the area.

“I worked at the Silverdome for years,” Wiseman said. “I would cook and do whatever else they needed done.”

Wiseman has been working in the food industry since 1971. She spent some time cooking for a convent just off Adams Road.

“It was interesting,” she said. “I cooked with a lot of garlic and onions. The poor sisters hadn’t had seasoned food in years. The sister superior told the doctor ‘the lady is cooking with too much garlic and onions,’ and the doctor said ‘It’s good for you.'”

Wiseman was born in 1936 and grew  up in West Detroit. She attended Mackenzie High School and the Pontiac Business Institute after. Her husband, Richard Wiseman, was her high school sweetheart.

“We were together sophomore, junior and senior year. He was a year ahead of me in school,” Wiseman said.  “(Right out of high school) I got married. Back then, you either got married or went off to school. I was 18.”

Wiseman and Richard were married for 13 years until they divorced They had four kids: Theresa, John, Catherine and Elizabeth. Wiseman raised her four children by herself in Rochester, where they attended Avondale high school.

When her children were young, she baked a lot, which made her kitchen a popular place in the neighborhood.

“I used to bake things and freeze them,” Wiseman said. “The neighborhood kids finally figured out my freezer didn’t have a lock on it and they would come and take cookies, muffins and whatever I had in there that was sweet. They enjoyed it.”

Wiseman’s children now range in ages from 48-53.

“I have four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren,” Wiseman said.

She said she loves being a grandma.

“Oh, they’re fun,” she said. “You can spoil them and then they go home.”

In 1999, Wiseman went to India, which triggered a deep fascination with the Indian and Bengali culture.

“I worked with two gentlemen from India and their older sister went with me to India,” Wiseman said. “I went with the family and stayed with the family.”

Wiseman took classes in Bengali and can still speak and read it a little.

“The family I went to India with spoke (the language) and I wanted to understand it a little,” Wiseman said. “I sang Bengali in Toronto at the Bengali convention for the North American continent in ’98.”

Even though her trip to India was over a decade ago, Wiseman still holds an interest in the Bengali culture.

“Sometimes I go to the Hindu temple down the road,” Wiseman said. “I listen and sometimes I sing.”

Every Monday through Friday, Wiseman perches behind the cash register from 5:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. swiping card after card of college students, yet she hopes never to retire.

“I’m just used to working,” Wiseman said.

Vandenberg Dining Center doesn’t have to worry about losing its smiling grandmotherly greeter anytime soon.

“I don’t know if I will retire yet. I’m thinking about it. I might never if I don’t have to.”