“In my eyes there will never be anyone who can fill her shoes.”

That’s how JoAnn Thorpe, a member of the Orangeburg Shoney’s management staff, views the retirement of Shoney’s manager Paula Kirby.

Kirby’s last day at the popular restaurant, after 25 years, will be Sunday.

It’s a sad day in Orangeburg.

After learning of Kirby’s retirement, Terry Rilley and the other members of the St. Paul Baptist Church Breakfast Club decided to honor her with a special plaque which reads: “People come into our lives for a lifetime or for just a season. Mrs. Kirby, we thank God for the season you were a part of our lives ... God bless your sweet spirit. Though distant from our sight, always present in our hearts.”

If an employee was ever dealing with an issue in their personal life and mentioned it to Kirby, she’d pray with them and for them, Thorpe said.

“When she told the management staff that she would be leaving, we were sad and cried, but we know we can go on because of what she has taught us,” she said.

Kirby and her husband, Dallas Kirby Jr., are relocating to Texas to spend more time with their children and watch their grandchildren grow up. Kirby also has a brother who resides in Dallas. Remaining here in Orangeburg are her mother and another brother.

Beginning her career at the family-oriented restaurant in 1980 as a dining room supervisor, Kirby became manager in just a short six months, and has been in that position ever since. She said she sort of fell into the job because she married into a family that was in the restaurant business.

Although being in the restaurant management business was not a career goal for her, her employees say she found her niche.

“There are managers, and then there are managers like Paula,” said Thorpe, who has worked with Kirby since her start in 1980. “She knew how to take care of her employees. She knew just how to talk to them. She could be firm, but she was always fair and caring.”

“She was not only our manager, but our friend,” Thorpe added.

In the short time that Jodi Dell has worked at Shoney’s, she said she has discovered the wonderful person that Paula Kirby is as a friend and as a supervisor.

“She is definitely one of the best managers I’ve ever had, and I’ve been in food service for the past seven years. She’s on top of her game,” Dell said.

Kirby said working at Shoney’s in Orangeburg, where there is such a well-rooted employee base, she’s had employees whose children have also come to work in the restaurant.

She’s enjoyed seeing the families of her customers grow from childhood into adulthood.

“Working in a small town, you really get to know a lot of people. It’s like one big family,” she said.

Being a part of the lives of the customers and the employees has been one of Kirby’s greatest joys, she says, adding that she will miss the people of Orangeburg when she moves.

“Orangeburg is home for me,” Kirby said.

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