Terry Grinstead, originally from Muldrow and a graduate of Sallisaw High School, has now worked at the much-beloved Short Stop in Vian for 18 years.
As a teenager, Grin-stead said shae did all the things an average teenager does while playing basketball and running track for the Lady Diamonds.
“Then, my ex husband came to work in Vian as a water guy, and I went to work at the Muldrow school cafeteria,” she said.
She said shortly after, she realized she didn’t want to drive that far every day, which is how she ended up in Vian.
“My ex-husband and I had bought a house at Drakes Prairie. Me knowing Jimmie Carlin (Short Stop owner) most of his life, I asked him for a job,” she said. “Now, 18 years later, here I am.”
Something Grinstead finds rewarding about her job is the kids. Over the years she has watched many little Wolverines grow from small children into successful young adults. “That has made this job worth every day spent here,” she said.
Another reason Grinstead loves her job is because she is able to shine her light into others’ lives and help them get through their dark days. And not only does she shine her light to others, but they have shown theirs to her. She says her customers have helped her through some of her darkest days.
One thing some people don’t know about Short Stop is that six or seven years ago, Grinstead, along with her co-worker Loretta Harris, started a “baby cup.”
Grinstead said she and Harris noticed that many children coming into the store were hungry and had no money. She said all walks of life come into the store because they are located so close to Interstate-40, including some transients.
“They walk past the hot box to use the restroom and see all the food in it,” she said. Grinstead said she and Harris decided they were never going to let anyone walk out of the store hungry, so they started paying for people’s meals.
Then the “baby cup” started with an older gentleman that sat in the back of the store, drinking coffee.
“He watched me and Loretta spend our own money on these people’s food and the next thing we knew, he and the other gentlemen in the back started giving us their coffee change,” she said. “Or they would buy $15 worth of gas, give us a $20 bill, and tell us to keep the change.”
“Then all of sudden it became known as the “baby cup,” and it wasn’t unusual for others to drop anywhere from $1 to $40 in it,” she said. “It feeds kids that don’t have money for food, and we use it often.”
On a day-to-day basis, Grinstead’s alarm goes off at 1:33 a.m. and she arrives at the store at 2:07 a.m.
“Other than that, the days are always different,” she said. “Who walks in the door, the moods they’re in, it’s never the same.”
Grinstead said her future plans are to just live one day at a time.
“I don’t like to plan too much into the future because you’ll tend to be disappointed,” she added. “My advice is to live life well, wake up with a grateful heart, and have really, really good friends that love you.”
