“For every dark night, there’s a brighter day.”
That’s the mindset of 2004 Marion grad Nikki Vanderhoef. And it’s also a Tupac quote.
But those words ring true for Nikki, especially in light of recent events.
Nikki and I were scheduled to talk during the last week of August at Smitty’s Diner in downtown Marion.
Nikki, who has spent most of her career in the restaurant and hospitality industry, had been working there as a waitress pretty much since the beginning. Even before the restaurant was called Smitty’s, Nikki had worked in the building – first at Little Italy’s, and then later at Ronnie’s Lunch Box. She loves being a waitress. She loves the conversations and cracking jokes with her regulars. She loves meeting new faces and welcoming them to our little community.
But on August 28 th , a fire destroyed the building. Our conversation was postponed; much more importantly, Nikki’s livelihood and career was postponed.
And as the saying goes, “For every dark night, there’s a brighter day,” brighter days are ahead. She’s confident in that.
We are too.
We caught up with Nikki recently, where we learned about her life, her career, her family; we learned about where she’s been and where she’s going. We learned that Nikki Vanderhoef is certainly more than just another face in the crowd.
Marion Press: Where were you born and raised?
Nikki: I was born in Middlesboro, Kentucky. That’s something that a lot of people don’t know about me – that I was born in the south. Aside from my southern roots and being down south, Marion is home.
MP: And you moved to Marion in elementary school?
Nikki: I did. I moved back to Marion in 1991 – right about kindergarten year. And then I was back and forth quite a bit during elementary school. My parents worked over the road – that was a big part of the reason I was back and forth. My grandparents lived down south, so in the summertime, if my parents were going to be gone, I’d go stay with my grandparents. I was born in Middlesboro, Kentucky, but all the rest of my family lives in Crossville, Tennessee, which is just across the border.
MP: What kept you busy growing up?
Nikki: A lot of outdoors; I was outdoors a lot. Fishing, hunting, swimming, the trails… that kind of stuff. Being between Tennessee and here, some things are quite similar.
MP: Do you have any favorite memories from going to school at Marion?
Nikki: Tons! Lots of good memories of everybody. I think most of my favorite memories revolved around sports. Regardless of whether I was on a team, or watching our community come together for all the big sporting events. That was always my favorite thing. Aside from that it was the people: the friends, the teachers. I have lots of memories of the people. My favorite teacher was Dick Sutton. He always believed in me. He kept me going, especially with sports. Sometimes in school, I wasn’t always the most popular kid, but he could see that there was potential… so he’d give me that little push. If I felt scared of something or standoffish, he was always there for that little push. He taught Middle School Social Studies and Geography, and we always had a lot of fun in that class.
MP: And I know you married one of them Marion boys. Tell us about your family. What keeps the Vanderhoef family busy?
Nikki: In 2007, I started dating Adam Vanderhoef. We got married in 2010, and we’ve just kind of built our family. We’ve got three kids; he’s got one from a previous, and we’ve got two together: James, Jalyn, and Justice. So we’re busy with work, sports, extracurricular activities. In the spring and summer, we’re involved in the mud bog community. We have a mega truck, and we run our mega truck on the weekends. Family cookouts are always a big thing; Sunday fun day. We always try to set Sundays aside for family day, regardless if it’s just us Vanderhoefs, or our friends or other family.
MP: And do you still spend a lot of time in the outdoors?
Nikki: Oh yes, that’s still part of my life. My kids, they love the outdoors. We’ve got a Polaris RZR; our children absolutely love that – I think they’ve put more miles on it than we have since we bought it! We live on the backside of Deighton, in the house where Adam grew up with his dad. We’ve got a little over five acres, and the kids have a little track where they run the quads, and the dirt bike and the RZR. If we want to take our friends for a ride in the mega truck, it’s big enough so that we can go zoom around in it.
MP: You’ve spent over half your life in the restaurant business, how’d you get involved in that?
Nikki: My mom, when I was younger, that was her forte – she was always working in the local restaurants and bars. I always watched her, and admired her doing it. It’s not an easy task. Some people think it’s an easy job, and it’s really not sometimes. Just seeing her in different situations, and seeing how she handled them… it was something where I thought, “I’m going to try to do that.”
When I was about 15 years old, my mom was managing Club 61 [now Tippy Canoe Bar] in Temple. I had actually started there as a dishwasher, and then I moved my way to a cook. And once I was old enough to serve, I started serving.
MP: So where did your career take you from there? I know you’ve been at Smitty’s pretty much since the beginning, and spent a lot of time working in that same building.
Nikki: I did the whole stay-at-home mom thing, and then when the kids were old enough to go to school, I started working at – what would’ve been – Ronnie’s Lunch Box back then. I worked on and off there for about 6 years. I knew that place like the back of my hand, that’s for sure. And before it was Ronnie’s, I worked there for Carmela Cataldo when it was Little Italy’s as well.
MP: What do you enjoy the most about waitressing?
Nikki: I think it’s the interaction with all the different people that you meet – and it’s not always just the locals. You’ve got people stopping in from out of town, and when you realize they’re from out of town, you kind of start a conversation to figure out where they’re from, and invite them to our community.
But my ultimate favorite is being able to harass my regular customers!
MP: What have you enjoyed the most about being a part of the Marion community?
Nikki: The people in the community. There’s always going to be bad words said about any given community, but when something happens in this community, everyone comes together. Everyone is always there. I think that’s the one thing that I thoroughly enjoy about our community: it doesn’t
matter who you are, what your name is, if somebody needs help, the community is there to help them – no matter how small or how big it might be.
MP: What’s the best advice that you’ve been given? What’s worked for you over the years?
Nikki: A big thing for me – and it’s a bit of a Tupac quote – ‘For every dark night, there’s a brighter day.’ That’s always been something that I’ve went by.
MP: Who have been your role models?
Nikki: Definitely, #1 would be my mom, Tonja Spring. Adam’s younger than me, but he’s always been my strength. He’s helped me grow.