Debbie Ross is the resident house director of the Albany Ronald McDonald House. The Ronald McDonald House provides a home away from home for families with critically ill or injured children. 

Debbie Ross has been at her job 10 times longer than the average person has stayed with their employer in the U.S.

In general, people stick around their workplace for about four years, according to the  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Ross has surpassed 40 years as the resident house director of the Albany Ronald McDonald House. Forty years. The Ronald McDonald House provides a home away from home for families with critically ill or injured children. 

Another "job" she's done for decades: a parent. Ross is a mom to four adult children and two small dogs, but we also have to mention the hundreds of children and families who’ve come to think of her like a mom to them, too (more on some of those families below).

This year, the Albany Ronald McDonald House is celebrating its 40th year of service. Ross was hired in 1981, not long after graduating college with her degree in social work, and she has been at the helm as house director since. 

Over the last four decades, Ross has welcomed more than 20,000 families to “The House That Love Built.” She keeps in touch with many of them, her phone ringing and pinging with calls and messages from dozens of current and past guests daily. 

The House’s first guest family – the Smiths – arrived on June 30, 1982. On June 30, 2022, RMHC of the Capital Region will celebrate 40 Years of Love with a sold-out anniversary gala at the Albany Capital Center.

Ross, who is today's 20 things, is one of four people who will be honored that night with a distinguished service award. 

1. I’ve been married to my husband, Steve, for 42 years. We started dating in college and were voted homecoming king and queen our senior year. 

2. I played basketball for four years at Berkshire Christian College and scored 1,000 points in my career. 

3. I was born in Portsmouth, N.H., and grew up in Dover. Leaving the beach and moving to the “big city” of Albany to work at the Ronald McDonald House was a major culture shock for me. 

4. I brought my mother and mother-in-law with me from Lennox, Mass., to Albany for my job interview at the Ronald McDonald House because they had heard there was good shopping in Albany. (Later, I was told having them with me was a selling point to the hiring board.) 

5. I have an apartment on the third floor of the Ronald McDonald House where I have lived since 1982. In the early days, my apartment was part of every house tour and was even used to host donor luncheons. I remember when the House first got a computer, it was placed in what is now my laundry room, and volunteers would come up to my apartment every night to enter information.

Kristi Gustafson Barlette is a features writer who writes about what is trending in your life and in hers. You can reach her at kbarlette@timesunion.com.