New sandwich honors late campus center employee

Palmina Lapins' sandwich bar was like the bar in the television show "Cheers" — everybody knew your name. She knew your name, what kind of sandwich you liked and how you wanted it made.

This is how Vice President for Public Affairs Robert Durkee '69 remembers Palmina Lapins, a person who was as indispensable to the old student center as coffee.

"In the summer she brought in tomatoes from her own garden because they were sweeter and riper than the ones that came from the supplier," said Durkee, who became friends with Lapins during years of trips to the student center.

"In my own case, if the egg salad wasn't fresh enough, she wouldn't let me order it," he recalled.

On one of the menu boards in the Frist food court, there is a sandwich called the "Wrappin Lapins."

The staff and the chef at the student center had wanted to revamp the food selection, and Lapins had had trouble accepting the change.

But Director of the Department of Dining Services Stu Orefice had an idea.

"Mrs. Lapins, we're going to make you famous — more famous that you are today," Orefice recalled telling her. "We are going to name a sandwich after you. The Wrappin Lapins."

Lapins worked with the chef to decide what ingredients would be in the wrap, and her name has been on the menu board ever since.

Orefice said when he told her what they were going to do, "she cried the rest of the day — tears of joy. She cried a lot when she was happy."

Student and friends remember Lapins as full of love.

John Duncia GS '81 was introduced to Lapins by a mutual friend. Both Lithuanian, the two developed a close friendship because of their common nationality.

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Duncia recalled that Lapins often took students under her wing "when they were down and depressed due to troubles with their studies, living expenses and girlfriends or boyfriends."

She once even saved a University student from committing suicide, according to Duncia.

However, Lapins' own life was not without troubles.

She had two infant children who were killed in an air raid during World War II.

She herself almost died during the war. Duncia said Lapins was forced to line up in front of a Nazi firing squad, but the execution was called off at the last minute for an unknown reason.

According to Duncia, Lapins believed her mother's gold cross saved her life that day. Earlier, she had put the cross in her mouth between her gum and her cheek for safekeeping.

Almost 10 years ago, Lapins asked a graduate student who was going to travel to Lithuania if he could visit the town where she had grown up to determine if her family is buried in the town cemetery.

What he discovered was something even more wonderful than Lapins had hoped. Her brother was alive, and he had two daughters.

After much planning, one of her nieces was able to come to Princeton and meet Lapins for the first time.

Even though Lapins had a difficult life, she always offered her warmth and love to students.

Frist Campus Center student manager Neil Schaefer '01 recalled a night when he was studying in the student center until almost 4 a.m. Before the sun had even risen outside, the lights came on and Lapins appeared.

She was "ready to start her day's work before mine was even finished," Schaefer said.

Lapins had made more than one million sandwiches by the time she worked her last day behind the sandwich counter Oct. 23.

Later that evening, she checked into Princeton Medical Center with chest pains. She was diagnosed with a heart attack, and she died several days later on Oct. 29, Duncia said in an e-mail.

Lapins worked in the student center for 27 years and was the official greeter at the Frist Campus Center food gallery for the first three months after it opened.

She once said, "I always have put my heart into my work, into each sandwich I make. I want people to feel good about coming to my sandwich bar. I want them to know I care."

Durkee said, "We don't know how they eat their manna in heaven. But if they put it between slices of bread, on a roll, or wrap it in a pita, I think we know who is going to be in charge before too long."