DePauw Stories

If you’ve been to Café Roy in Roy O. West Library, you’ve probably met Angie Clevenger and Judy Hastings. They’ve been serving lattes, frappes and cappuccinos together for the last six years. And if you’re a frequent customer, they know your name and your order.

Judy has been there 12 years. She previously drove a school bus for 25 years and had retired to a lake community. But the move put her husband and her farther from their children and grandchildren and Judy missed them so much that she decided the only way to keep her mind busy was to go back to work. She saw an ad for the Café Roy job in the newspaper and was hired on the spot.

“I love it,” she says of her job. “It’s where I plan to stay.”

Angie has worked at DePauw for 18 years. The first 12 were with Sodexo at the Hub in the Memorial Student Union Building, after which she moved to Café Roy. She began working part-time when her kids were growing up but now works full-time in the café.

The two baristas have developed a fast friendship. “It’s funny how much we think alike,” Angie says. In fact, they know each other so well that they can finish each other’s sentences. And given the café’s snug space, their friendship is probably a very good thing.

“We’ve learned to zig and zag,” Judy says, “and as we say, do-si-do. Angie and I get along great.”

What keeps Judy coming back to her job? The one-on-one relationships she has with professors and staff. “I have really good relationships with some of the students, too. You can never be their mom,” she says, “but you kind of fill in when they’re missing their mom. So I love it. I just love it.”

Angie agrees. It’s about the relationships. “The people. The faculty. The staff. The kids. My coworker. Just the whole community. It’s a family,” she says.

“The students come in as freshman,” Angie says, “and then you have them for four years. We work during commencement and watch them graduate. And then when they come back to campus,” she says, “it’s awesome. They come in to find us, and we get to hear what they’re doing with their lives. We’re proud of them.”

Angie and Judy make it a priority to know their customers, and that’s why so many frequent the café.

English professor Greg Schwipps ’95 says there's no friend relationship at DePauw that matters to him more than the one he shares with Angie and Judy. “Those two remind me of my family back home, and that's how I view them.  They invented a drink for me: it's called the Judy Special. I drink five Judy Specials a week. I usually get five hugs per week, too.”

“Over the last few years,” Angie says, “we’ll have a student come in who won’t make eye contact, kind of not connecting, and you make it your journey to bring that kid in.”

Junior Hunt Reynolds says he doesn’t go to Café Roy every day just to get a coffee, “I go to talk to some of the most genuine, good-hearted, down-to-earth people on this campus. No matter what kind of day I am having, Judy and Angie always brighten it.”

He suggests that, the next time you get a coffee, “go sit in the corner and watch them work. Even though they are so busy making drinks and toasting bagels, they try to connect with every person in line on a personal level.

“They truly make DePauw feel like home to so many people.”