In colorful clogs and a blue hat to match her Walmart team vest, 86-year-old Mary Ruth Robinson is a greeter at the Carrollton, Kentucky location.

But to the people shopping there, she is so much more: an infectious personality with the power to turn around anyone's day. The automatic doors are like the portico of a cathedral of kindness, with Mary Ruth as the pastor.

"You don't find somebody like her every day anymore," shopper Ted Holcomb said.

But the wellspring of well-wishes within the spritely senior erupted out of tragedy.

Not long ago, her husband Jacky, with whom she shared a lifetime of love and adventure, died on their wedding anniversary after a taxing battle with Parkinson's that left him bedridden for 5 years.

"I wish everybody could have that kind of love," said Robinson. "I thought well if I don't go to work, I will die of loneliness, because I miss him."

Her independence was always important to her, and she reasoned that getting a job might be a good way to get the wheels of her life turning again. She believes working is a wonderful thing: a wonderful therapy.

"She's making connections and getting the love she is missing at home with the help of shoppers," said a Walmart spokesperson. "It's so sweet how shoppers are really coming through for her in her time of need."

The community responds to her daily greetings at the store which she says is the ley-line for the kindest people she's ever met with kindness, hugs, selfies, and even flowers sometimes.

WDRB Kentucky also spoke with one shopper whose son was autistic and wouldn't hug a soul until he met Mary Ruth.

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