By NATALIE SACKET
Feature Editor
Northwestern Oklahoma State University students walk into Coronado Café for lunch and scan their IDs, passing by an elderly woman named Lovella.
You can find Lovella at the entrance of Coronado Café every day, dressed in her all-black uniform and Chartwell’s cap. She’s a dedicated worker during the week, but every Thursday, Lovella is dancing the evening away.
Lovella Tolle isn’t your typical employee. She’s almost 72 years old and proud of her work ethic at her age.
Her children and her doctor encourage her to slow down and rest, but she says she’s not ready to retire just yet. So Lovella keeps working and dancing. “I’ve been dancing ever since I was big enough to stand on my daddy’s feet,” she said.
Lovella started dancing Country-Western, then jitterbugging and then square dancing. She started square dancing in 1973 and hasn’t stopped since. She said she loves the companionship, the exercise, and the music.
Every Thursday, Lovella straps on her dancing shoes and heads to the Lutheran Hall. She refuses to be an idle person and retirement isn’t even on her mind. She jokes that she’ll maybe retire when she’s 80-years-old, or when she can’t walk anymore.“I’m not ready to give up,” she said.
Lovella loves her work and seeing the Northwestern student’s every day. She also loves knitting, going to church and seeing her four kids, eight grandkids, and 10 great-grandkids.