Waffle House Waitress Made Sure Veteran Was Honored

Veteran gets military funeral after waitress sparks movement
WBTV.com
By David Whisenant
Updated: Apr 30, 2014 4:40 PM EDT

SALISBURY, NC (WBTV)

Dozens gathered on Wednesday morning at the Veterans Administration Medical Center National Cemetery Annex in Salisbury this morning to say goodbye to a man most had never met.

Mike Pardalis sometimes didn't talk at all. He might have been quiet, but his impact on Mandi Gardner was huge.

Gardner has worked at the Waffle House in Concord for 11 years and says sometimes Mike would doze off in a corner booth. But he was nice and he was a long-time regular customer.

And for a former waitress at a Concord Waffle House, the service was both a tribute, and the fulfillment of a dream.

Mandi Gardner had worked at the Waffle House in Concord for 11 years and was very fond of long-time customer Mike Pardalis.

Pardalis was a quiet man, sometimes not speaking at all, but he left a huge impact on Mandi.

She says sometimes Mike would doze off in a corner booth. But he was nice and he was a long-time regular customer.

"Rough around the edges with a marshmallow middle," is how Mandi describes the man she knew for many years. "But he was a sweet man. He's not going to just walk away from you with your keys locked in a car standing there with a baby."

On April 10, Mike had a heart attack and died alone in his van. His body laid in the morgue at NorthEast Medical Center for nearly two weeks. No one called to claim his body.

"No memorial, there's no headstone, no goodbye, nothing for someone to track down and find," Mandi told WBTV.
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