If you’re flying in or out of Midway this holiday season and need some help, keep an eye out for Robert Garrison because he’s looking out for you!
He’s a special volunteer who helps you find your way around the airport—and I’m guessing in life, too! See, Mr. Garrison is 94 years old and has just about done it all—he started working at 13 as a busboy in the former Sherman House Hotel in the Loop, was a dining car waiter on the Chicago Burlington Railroad Line on trips to Denver and has also been a librarian, taxi driver, mail sorter, doorman and house cleaner… and now he is the oldest volunteer in Midway’s Airport Ambassadors program, manning the information desk in the lower-level baggage claim area at Midway where he greets crowds to help them find the right door to go to, get to the Orange line or catch their Uber.
But one of the best things he does is ease people’s nerves, even when he doesn’t have all the answers. He says, “I do the best I can with them… you put yourself into it, you like what you’re doing at the moment… it keeps you healthy.” Mr. Garrison has practiced Buddhism for over 50 years and says it has taught him the value of “calming yourself in situations.”
Mr. Garrison is a graduate of DuSable High School, has been married for 57 years, and is most proud of his two adult children. He thinks next summer he may volunteer as a people counter at the Evergreen Park Farmers Market.