Frances Buzzard performed her normal duties as an ordinary janitor.
She always polished furniture until it sparkled. And soon all the staff and students fell in love with this wonderful woman for her incredible hard work and perseverance, which turned the school into one of the cleanest places in the city.
But it turned out that this inconspicuous old woman kept a very sad secret from everyone all the time.
One day, the director called Frances to the school cafeteria. The woman must have been puzzled when the need was announced over the loudspeaker.
What she met when she entered the cafeteria was far beyond her wildest fantasies.
More than two hundred students and staff were waiting for Francis to congratulate the woman on her 77th birthday. It turned out that the principal found out that this elderly woman had never had a real birthday celebration in her entire life. And all the staff and students decided to arrange a real holiday for her. It was the very first happy birthday of her life!
She was greeted at the door with a loud “Happy Birthday” song, after which a cart full of gingerbread cookies and chocolate muffins, as well as plenty of lemonade, was rolled out of the kitchen.
Frances was given a glittering tiara, put on her head. In addition, the students hung a commemorative ribbon for the woman before she was led to a chair in the very center of the room. She was truly the star of the party.
Soon it was time for the highlight of the show.
Curtains on one side of the room opened to reveal a large screen. It turned on a slide show that included a documentary about Frances’s story.
Many photographs detailed important historical events throughout her long and eventful life. One of them showed Frances raising the flag on Iwo Jima, standing next to Neil Armstrong on the moon. She was a really energetic young lady during her heyday.
But why did the woman never celebrate her birthday?
Frances reminisced about her childhood. She grew up in a very poor family. It turns out her parents could never afford to give the little girl a proper birthday. They almost never even had a chance to celebrate Christmas.
Frances was truly delighted with such a wonderful gesture from the school. It was a well-thought-out reward from the principal, staff, and students for the efforts of the cleaning lady. One can only thank these people for making the old woman smile on her birthday.
