A group of Burger King employees and loyal customers came together to pay tribute to a cherished regular, 91-year-old Jerry Parkin, by permanently engraving his name on his favorite chair in the restaurant’s dining area.
Jenny Olson and her brother, Leo Parkin, were taken aback when several employees from the North Branch Burger King attended their father’s funeral. The unexpected guests weren’t empty-handed—they brought a very special chair.
“Someone came into the kitchen at church and said, ‘The whole crew from Burger King is here, and they brought a chair,’” she said. “I said, ‘What?’” Dressed in their work uniforms, the employees had come to honor Jerry, who visited the restaurant every morning for coffee with friends. To them, he wasn’t just a customer—he was family.
“He would walk in, and we would have his order ready for him,” said Monica Kuball, one of the attending employees.
“That was his seat. He always sat there every morning, so we had to bring his chair,” she said.
Engraved on the back of the chair were Jerry Parkin’s name and the dates of his birth and passing. The heartfelt idea came from fellow coffee regular Kevin Bennett, who considered the chair a “seat of honor.” Bennett’s wife used a wood burner to engrave the tribute, even making a second chair for another regular who had recently passed.
“I’ve never had anybody want to memorialize a chair in the dining room for somebody,” said Tom DeHaven, the restaurant’s general manager. With corporate approval, Jerry’s chair now sits back in its place, ensuring his presence is always felt.
Five months later, Olson returned to the restaurant, grateful for the love shown to her father. As she sat in his chair, she ran her fingers over the engraved wood, smiling.
“I feel it here, and I feel it in my heart, too,” she said. “Quite an honor to have.”
Photo: Lauren DeCicca / Getty Images News / Getty Images