Tutu says "goodbye" after 30 years of service

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Lauren Johnson
  • 1st SOW Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  Most Hurlburt Field Airmen weren't in the military when Karnithar Cracraft began working at The Reef. Many weren't even born.

Today, after 30 years at the dining facility, Mrs. Cracraft, more commonly known as "Tutu," says goodbye.

Although this small woman appears to have a quiet, gentle presence, Tutu's reputation in the kitchen says otherwise.

"She has always been a fireball," said Dining Facility Project Manager Skip McLean, who first worked with Tutu in 1994, while he was on active duty.

Tutu readily agreed. "I don't like to sit all day," she said. "I like to move a lot. I'm always moving in this job."

Most of her movement, Mr. McLean explained, is of her own accord. Tutu likes to do everything herself, he said, from chopping vegetables to elaborately decorating and preparing specialty foods for the holidays.

Even as she sits talking, her hands find ways to keep busy embellishing stories, smoothing back her dark hair and waving to friends on a break between meals.

Tutu's longtime friend and colleague, Suk Hwa Bridges said Tutu is able to create "customer coziness" as a master of the small things, like folding napkins in different designs.

"It looks so elegant!" Mrs. Bridges said.

Mrs. Bridges is first to admit she's no expert in fancy napkin folding but explains that Tutu touched her coworkers on an emotional level as well. "She's very strong. She makes me strong."

Enduring these 30 years, Tutu has become a Hurlburt institution, and as such she has witnessed many changes at the dining facility.

"At the start, there were no computers and no buffet," she recalled. Food was sold individually by item and inventoried by hand.

In 1984, The Reef got its first computers and two years ago adopted a buffet-style menu. The Reef currently offers the only seven-day-a-week buffet in the Air Force.

Tutu herself has changed as well.

She remembered her first day at The Reef also as her first day working with food. "I didn't know how to cook!" she said, laughing. But she now considers herself an expert and even enjoys taking her work home. "Whatever recipe, I can do it."

Over the years of serving 900 meals a day to the Hurlburt community, Tutu said she has cultivated relationships with many of her customers.

"I met these young guys," she said, "And now they're senior master sergeants and chief master sergeants and they come back and ask me, 'You're still here?'"

She stayed because she loved every minute of it. Her eyes still light up while talking about her work. If she could do it all over again, Tutu said she wouldn't change a thing.
However, she is excited for the future.

She plans to visit family in Bangkok, Thailand, then move to Robbins Air Force Base, Ga.
But she won't be off her feet for long.

Tutu plans to continue her work in food service, possibly in a nursing home.
"I'll miss this place," she said. "I'll miss the workers. They were always helping me, supporting me."

The feeling is mutual.

"I'll miss her energy," Mr. McLean said. "I could always count on her."

Mrs. Bridges nearly cried when she spoke about Tutu leaving. "She's just one of a kind," she said. "I have learned a lot from her, just watching her. We all have."