Wednesdays were always “macaroni days” at Ansonia High School between the late 1960s and early 1990s.
Few students would miss the homemade sauce and meatballs made by cafeteria worker Phyllis Hunt.
“The attendance on Wednesdays was almost perfect,” said Jack Hunt, Phyllis’s son, and the former attendance officer at the high school. “Everybody knew that Wednesday was macaroni day.”
Now every day will be ‘macaroni day’, after the Ansonia Board of Education voted last week to name the cafeteria at the former high school — which is now Ansonia Middle School — after Hunt.
“I was so overwhelmed,” Hunt said Friday, after finding out about the honor from her children Thursday night. “I could just cry and cry and cry.”
Hunt said she only retired from the job in 1991 because she lost her eyesight. Hunt is now 92, still living in Ansonia.
“I loved working there,” Hunt said. “If I had my eyesight I think I’d still be there.”
Hunt said macaroni day at the high school was a big event. The cafeteria staff would spend days preparing the meatballs and homemade sauce.
“They were in lines all the way down the hall,” Hunt said. “They loved the macaroni. It was nice.”
People still remember Hunt’s cooking — and her dedication to the school.
“Anybody that couldn’t afford to eat, she made sure they got lunch,” said Carmen Pitney, a member of the Board of Education.
“She made the best cake too,” said Superintendent Carol Merlone, who was an Ansonia student.
Hunt’s daughter, Joanne Davis, said anytime she goes places with her mother, former students stop them and tell her what great food she made.
“No matter where we go, there’s students there that go: ‘Aren’t you Mrs. Hunt, the macaroni lady?’” Davis said. “They all remember her.”
