Deborah Kling, a waitress who always had a big heart and a smile on her face, announced to her customers on a Saturday morning three weeks ago that she began working at The Dream restaurant in Hollidaysburg “fifty-two years ago today.”

Those eating breakfast gave her the applause that was appropriate, but that happy moment turned to withering sadness just 10 days later when “Deb” died suddenly at her Altoona area home.

Since her Sept. 27 death, those associated with The Dream, including her son, Robert Tomeo, who manages the restaurant’s kitchen, have gone through a mourning process that includes placing a photo of Deb and her 8-year-old granddaughter, Tiffany, on the front door.

Also, her section of the restaurant was closed off for two days during what would have been her shift.

Kathy Russell, owner of The Dream, said: “We feel like family here. It was a sad time.”

To help The Dream’s many employees grieve, Russell, her husband and general manager, Calvin, and many of Kling’s colleagues met in a back room at the restaurant Wednesday night to talk about their long-time friend.

Lisa Jones has been a waitress at The Dream for 30 years and said that Deb “was a staple here.”

She said Kling had a group of customers that came to the restaurant on a regular basis, and for many of them, particularly the Saturday morning breakfast crowd, she would have their places set up and their coffee ready.

Colleagues related many funny stories about Kling, who loved to gab with customers and discuss her family and grandchildren, as well as the customers’ families and grandchildren.

But Jones smiled and she explained that Kling, after every shift, would always ask her fellow waitresses, “Okay, what are you working on for dinner tonight?”

The irony that those who serve others all day then had to go home and cook for their families was not lost on the group, Jones said.

Kayla Scalice, who has been at The Dream for eight years, said Kling was “so outgoing.”

She was among the “loudest” of the waitresses who would greet her customers with a deep-voiced “hello” before asking, “What will it be today?”

Scalice said Kling was “like a grandmother to me.”

To Calvin Russell, Kling was the “foundation and support of this restaurant.”

The restaurant, Russell said, opened in 1952, and Kling, who was a niece to Dave Walls, the original owner, was born in 1949.

That meant she probably started going to the restaurant, then known as Dave’s Dream, when she was a youngster.

She began her career as a waitress in 1964 at age 15 and had worked there since. Supposedly, she retired after 50 years, but in reality she continued her working life on a part-time basis, and Kathy Russell said that a week before her death, Kling said out loud, “I don’t think I’ll ever quit here.”

That’s what made her sudden death so traumatic.

Kathy Russell said the first reaction upon hearing of Kling’s death was one of shock.

Even though it has been many days since her death, in the back of her mind she expects to see the 67-year-old Kling appear for her shift.

“She wasn’t planning on dying. She was planning for life,” said Russell as her voice tailed off.

Russell knew Kling since she came to the restaurant as a waitress in 1975 when Ron and Karen Lynn assumed ownership.

“I always looked up to her. I had a lot of respect for her. I never lost that respect,” she said.

She said Kling was a “very caring person” who cared for her ailing mother at her home – where she also lived with her husband, William, son, Robert, and Tiffany.

Kling would make meals for her neighbors but her real gift – and what made she such a great waitress – was her ability to made everybody around her “feel they were special.”

“I thought it was just me,” laughed Russell, but then she realized, “It was everybody.”

Kling was a mother to two children, Robert, and Joseph Tomeo of Camp Hill, grandmother to eight and great-grandmother of four. She is survived also by her mother, Janet Becker.

Tiffany realized earlier this year that her grandmother had never had a birthday party, and she convinced her father and Uncle Joe to rectify that situation.

Russell pointed out, “She was happy that day. She said she was ‘so proud of (her boys)’ for giving her a party. It was a great memory,” she said.

Kathy and Calvin Russell became owners of The Dream in 2006, and, as Kathy said, Kling’s uncle, Dave Walls, started The Dream and Deb carried it to the present day.

Her memory will likely last a long time at The Dream.

Robert said, like his mother, he began working at The Dream, in 1984, when he was 15.

He was playing baseball one day when his mother came to pick him up after the game. She asked him if he’d like to start washing dishes at the restaurant.

“That’s when I quit baseball,” he smiled.

He’s been working at The Dream ever since.

What he didn’t realize was how many people were touched by his mother. As he walked around Hollidaysburg the past week, many people he didn’t know approached him to offer their condolences.

He said when he and Tiff and his mother would go to DelGrosso’s Amusement Park, it was the same. People from everywhere would greet her.

Kathy Russell wrote in memorium of Kling at the bottom of the photo that has been on the front door of The Dream since her death.

It reads: “Deb, was a very sweet and loving friend to us all. We are greatly saddened by her passing. She cared very deeply for those in need around her, and made it her mission to help them however she could. She loved working here, and taking care of her customers, who had come to know personally through her 50-plus years of excellent customer service. We love you Deb. You will always be in our hearts.”