AROUND AND ABOUT THE OTIS HEALTH CARE CENTER

2004 EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR

Denise Choleva Grube

The past six months have been a whirlwind for Denise Choleva Grube. On September 4, she got married, in Jamaica, VT, to Fred Grube. In October, Denise was promoted to Food Service Director at Grace Cottage. And, in December, she was voted the Grace Cottage Employee of the Year by her peers. This award comes with $1,000 in cash, a month of free lunches (that she helps to prepare!), 80 hours of additional vacation time, a commemorative clock, and lots of acclaim (this is the part that Denise has a difficult time with—by nature, she’s extremely modest).

Denise began learning the trade at a very young age, by helping her grandmother, a caterer in Turners Falls, MA. Denise graduated from Franklin County Technical School, with a Culinary Arts certificate; she then spent years working in food service in various capacities, at a school, at Mount Snow, and elsewhere. In 1998, she began working in the kitchen at Grace Cottage. Her favorite part of the job? “Meeting people,” she says, without hesitation.