After 32 years, McDonald’s worker with special needs retires

NEEDHAM, Mass. – A woman with Down syndrome has hung up her hairnet and retired after working 32 years at the french fry station of a Massachusetts McDonald’s franchise.

Freia David began working at the Needham McDonald’s in 1984 through a program that placed adults with cognitive disabilities in community jobs.

While two of her peers didn’t complete the six-month training course, David soon became a mainstay of the restaurant.

David was approaching 1 million pounds of fries served when her 90-year-old mother began to notice that she was forgetting things and urged her to retire.

More than 100 people packed the McDonald’s to wish David a happy retirement on Monday. She received a silver necklace with a fry-carton pendant and a proclamation from the state House of Representatives among other gifts.

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