Sweet Carolyln (Bah! Bah! Bah!)

By Brenna Eller
Editor In Chief

She is known to students as one of the sweetest ladies on campus.

Some even see her as a motherly or grandmotherly figure while they’re away from home. She is often seen in the Parker Student Union cafeteria, scanning student IDs or working the cash register for lunch.

Carolyln Blackburn has been with Hutchinson Community College for about eight years and recently went from full-time to part-time for health reasons.

On April 10, Blackburn scared everyone when she had another heart attack. Some of the staff and students helped organize a large greeting card and wished her to be well.

To them, Blackburn said, “Thank you for my wonderful card, I love it and I’ll treasure it for the rest of my life.”

On April 17, Blackburn returned, and all was right with the campus again.

“I’ve been doing really well since I had the heart attack,” Blackburn said, “I’ve just been taking it easy so far.”

Two students at HutchCC, twin brothers Donovan and Denilson Whitmore, shared their experiences with Blackburn, since the two normally eat lunch in the cafeteria and always look forward to seeing Blackburn’s smiling face.

“Carolyln is really people-loving, and she treats everyone with the same respect no matter how they look or present themselves,” Denilson said, “And she’s always very consistent with her positive attitude.”

Both were upset when they found out that Blackburn had a heart attack, as were many others.

“I didn’t believe it at first, not until she didn’t show up for work for a couple of days and I started to question if she was going to be OK,” Donovan said.  

Now that Blackburn is back and better health-wise, the Whitmores and several other students and staff members are happy to see her again.

“The students make my day, everybody is just so neat,” Blackburn said.

Blackburn is originally from Jetmore and has worked in the food industry her whole life, starting out waitressing in different restaurants.

Blackburn worked as Food Service Director at the Hutchinson Law Enforcement Training Center for 10 years. About a year and a half before she left there, Blackburn suffered a heart attack and went under heart bypass surgery.

Once she felt it was time to move on, Blackburn started working for HutchCC and has loved interacting with the students, faculty and staff ever since.

Blackburn’s favorite aspect about working at HutchCC is the contact with people. She said she loves talking to everyone and asking people about their day.

After a day at work, Blackburn goes home to watch TV and play with her dogs.

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