Mary Reene Willis

THE DAY MY WORLD TURNED BLUE

I was a bright, bubbly three-minute-old baby when I met Hattie Holt. Hattie was born in Syprel Crit, Arkansas in 1927. She was a magnificent Mother, Wife, Sister, and Friend, but I knew her as Grandma. She was full of life and loved to gamble only with her money, never her life, as she said. She worked as a Restaurant Manager and Server for over 32 years. A little-known restaurant in Highland Park, Michigan called the Hi-Liter, is where she worked her magic on us all. She wowed customers daily with her amazing attitude, great food and desserts, and bright smile. The tunes on the huge jukebox serenaded customers and employees alike with Motown tunes and old-school favorites as you dined. Grandma would buzz around waiting tables, handling staff issues, bookkeeping, and running the restaurant with only a high school education but she was the smartest person with numbers and language that I knew. She taught herself business management and accounting.