DUNMORE--
The doors may be locked early in the morning at Pizza Hut in Dunmore but that doesn't mean people aren't working inside.
"I like work," Eugene Beggin of Olyphant said.
To the average person cleaning and mopping might not be an easy chore but for Eugene Beggin it's his job, a job he loves doing.
"I work here 25 years," Beggin said.
"He thinks it's 25 years but I checked his record and it said January 3rd of 1988, so he's actually already in his 27th year," Bob Kennedy of Pizza Hut said.
Despite being born with down syndrome and being partially blind Beggin hasn't let anything stop him.
"I get up at 5:30 in the morning. I eat my breakfast and I make coffee by myself," Beggin said.
Eugene's older brother Allan Beggin says he's happy times have changed for those with disabilities.
"They put children like that in St. Joseph's. Society didn't really know how to deal with them, families didn't know how to deal with them," Allan Beggin said.
For Pizza Hut owner Bob Kennedy, he's gotten to know Eugene over the years.
If he isn't helping him -- they're usually joking around.
"You're the best Eugene," Kennedy said.
"You got that right," Beggin said.
"As much as I know Eugene loves his job, he gives that much back to us and I wish other employers would look that way also," Kennedy said.
It's for these reasons we take the time to give a 16 Salutes to Eugene Beggin -- for never letting any challenges get in the way of living his life, a life he lives always with a smile on his face.