It isn’t just the square pizza they remember. It’s the smiling face serving it up.

“What is rewarding is seeing so many of the kids out in the community,” Maureen “Mo” Harris said. “They’ll come up and say I remember you, you were my lunch lady! I remember that pizza!”

Harris retired May 27 after working for 30 years in the cafeterias of Amboy’s schools, starting at Central School, then moving to the combined Amboy Junior High School and Amboy High School building.

“It’s kind of sad. I keep thinking of a lot of the kids that have gone through and all the people I’ve worked with over the years. I can’t even start to count the number of kids I’ve served,” Harris said.

She started at Central School in 1996, as a part-time worker, when her son started kindergarten. Harris and her husband, John, have two children, Richard and Elizabeth, and one granddaughter, Adisyn.

For Harris, it was an ideal job to be at her children’s school with a schedule that followed theirs.

“I was in school when they were in school and out when they were out, so I didn’t have to worry about a babysitter,” Harris said.

Right away, as a mom herself, working the lunch line was rewarding.

“We definitely made sure everyone had something to eat. It might not have been their favorite, but there was always something to eat. Of course, there were rules, but if somebody wanted seconds, they could get seconds,” she said.

Then, as now, the square “school” pizza was the favorite.

“Pizza day was definitely the favorite. Over at Central, some days we would serve over 300 kids,” she said.

Another favorite of the students that continued to be a favorite at the new combined Amboy Junior High School and High School was one of the simplest.

“We put out those big tubs of bread and butter that the kids could take every day, and they loved that. We used to do chicken dogs, chicken shaped like hot dogs, and the kids love those. Another popular one was roast beef and gravy over mashed potatoes,” she said.

No matter what school she was serving at, her workday started early.

“I would go in, open up the kitchen, set up for breakfast and get things ready to go. Then I would start preparing for lunch, cutting up lettuce, cutting up vegetables, getting that into containers. You would put breakfast away and get started on lunch. You would serve lunch, then clean up, then start on prep for the next day,” she said.

Harris said one of the biggest changes she’s seen is stricter rules on school meals and also an emphasis on record-keeping.

“Paperwork has gotten stricter. We used to go by our own count. Now you have to follow production records that tell you how many servings per ingredient,” Harris said.

What schools can serve also has changed.

“Compared to back then, they have a lot more choices. When I first started over here at the high school, we had our regular line in the cafeteria, then we had a table that we called the sandwich line. We had sandwiches, nachos, chips and dip. We had another table that was the candy line, candy bars, chips, that kind of stuff. That is the line that always made a lot of money,” Harris said.

With more government oversight over school meals and nutrition, the sandwich and candy lines became a thing of the past.

“Now the kids have to have so many servings of fruits and vegetables a day. At the high school, we put out two different kinds of fruits or vegetables for them to pick from so they get their required servings,” Harris said.

Harris said it stung when some politicians blamed student obesity and health issues on school meals.

“The government stepped in and changed things. They said the schools have to start changing the way kids eat, and I thought, ‘You cannot blame this on the schools. This stuff starts at home.’ It has to start at home before it starts here,” she said.

Harris also is a familiar face to those who attend Amboy school sporting events, as she has worked the gate selling and taking tickets for 25 years. That, and subbing in the cafeteria, is something she intends to keep doing.

“Between working in the cafeteria and the extracurricular events, I’ve met so many people,” she said.

Toni Fassig started at the former Amboy Junior High School 31 years ago as a cafeteria worker. Today, she is the head cook for Amboy schools.

Fassig said Harris’s knowledge will be missed in the kitchen.

“She was a wonderful asset to the cafeteria staff and to Amboy schools. It was great when I started here at the high school because she knew so much and she was willing to share that knowledge. It was a comfort to know she was here. She could follow directions, and she was very adaptable when we started new programs and new ideas,” Fassig said.

She said that Harris and the rest of the cafeteria and kitchen staff strive to make students’ dining experience a positive moment in their school day.

“It’s always a happy experience when they come to the cafeteria. They want to be here, and they want to get lunch. We work really hard to make sure that when they come through the line, that is a good part of their day,” Fassig said.