Submitted Photo
The passing of cafeteria worker, Franklin Andrew Periman, was announced to returning students as they made their way back to Oklahoma Christian University this semester.
Periman, 47, suffered an unexpected, fatal aneurysm on the morning of August 22. News of his death spread quickly among the Oklahoma Christian community.
“I was up at Dry Gulch whenever I got the phone call from Kurt [Hermanson, manager of United Dining],” Neil Arter, dean of students, said. “As I heard Kurt’s voice, I knew something had happened. I took the chance, once that session was over, to keep the upperclassmen together at Dry Gulch for us to be able to tell them.”
Former and current students began sharing memories of Periman after hearing the news of his passing.
“Every time I’d walk into the caf, you could just tell he wanted to be there and that he really loved OC,” senior Mathew Engle said. “I remember, one time, I just gave him a hug. It’s just those simple things that just really made an impact on me.”
Students had the opportunity to express their love and sympathy for Periman and his family through written condolences on poster boards outside the cafeteria.
“The family – his mom, his dad and sister – I don’t think they really knew how much Andrew was part of the campus and how much everybody loved him,” Hermanson said. “I just wanted to do something with the posters so that they could see how much love the students had for Andrew and that was one way I felt like we could share that with the family.”
Hermanson said he hopes these seemingly small sentiments offer comfort and provide perspective to Periman’s family.
“His dad felt blessed that now he’s where there is no pain,” Hermanson said. “There were just so many health issues that he had been dealing with over the years and now he’s pain-free and happy.”
Funeral services were held on August 26 at First Baptist Church in Edmond, Oklahoma.
“At his funeral, the preacher had several accounts from the OC Facebook site,” Arter said. “It’s kind of cool that in today’s day and age, social media actually provided comfort to that family and it gave them some perspective as to what he was doing here. I don’t think his parents or family really understood that anybody really knew who Andrew was and so this was kind of surprising to them.”
Periman was a favorite staff member within the cafeteria among students and faculty.
“I feel sorry for all the kids that won’t get to know him, that won’t get the opportunity to see him every day and laugh with him,” Engle said.
Periman began working for food services at Oklahoma Christian in 1992, according to Hermanson.
“When you’re in Kurt Hermanson’s position in U-Dining, you always want to appreciate and enjoy the people you’re around,” Arter said. “But you never know that you’re going to have someone like an Andrew, who will become kind of a staple.”
For the past 10 years, Periman worked in the evenings as the cashier, welcoming students into the cafeteria and wishing them to enjoy their meals.
“Andrew is the only employee that I’ve ever had that was scheduled to come into work at 11:00 and would show up three hours early every single day just to be on campus,” Hermanson said. “He was here basically for three hours just because he wanted to be here.”
Periman’s excitement to be at work influenced the positive attitudes of other U-Dining employees.
“If you had the pleasure of working with him, you’d know that he’s more than just the guy that swipes at the caf,” senior Nathan Jorgensen said. “His jokes are what brightened up my day every day.”
Other U-Dining workers shared this sentiment as well with stories of working alongside Periman.
“Saying hi to Andrew every day when I worked at the caf was the best part of being at the caf,” senior Katherine Vasper said. “He was such a great guy to work with.”
Periman got connected with the job at Oklahoma Christian’s dining services through his personal connection with Hermanson.
“Andrew lives about six houses down from me and I’ve known Andrew for thirty years,” Hermanson said. “When he took the cashier’s job, I told him to be sure and greet the students when they came in and tell them to have a nice day or whatever. I think that evolved into him saying ‘Enjoy.’ and it turned in to being his tagline.”
Periman’s famous tagline was mentioned in many of the Facebook sentiments posted on a photograph by Oklahoma Christian.
“Anytime I would say anything about Andrew to any alumni or anything, they all would say the same thing – ‘Enjoy’ – immediately,” Arter said. “I never told Andrew that people always did that because I didn’t know if he necessarily knew that was kind of a legend, in a way, a tradition.”
According to alumna Amanda Arnold, Periman was one to always go above and beyond what was expected of him to serve others.
“I remember one time I was going to dinner this past year and I was super stressed – and I’m guessing it was pretty obvious – and I, for whatever stupid reason, didn’t have my ID and he just smiled at me and said, ‘One less thing to worry about today’ and waved me on in,” Arnold said. “It was such a little thing to do and it made all the difference. He was always like that.”
Discussion is taking place on how to memorialize Periman, Hermanson said.
“We’re going to find a way to memorialize him when we do our renovation,” Hermanson said. “I think student government is going to be putting a plaque up in his memory and Curtis Janz, the Athletic Director, is going to have a jersey made with his name for us to have framed out front.”
Periman is survived by his parents, Frank and Merlene Periman, sister, Tara Fields, brother-in-law, Brian Fields and all of the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Oklahoma Christian.
Be First to Comment