MPW.68 / 2016 Nana’s Four Generations of Home Cooking by Phu Nguyen
Photographer
Phu Nguyen Brookings, S.D.

Team Eppridge

Recipient of the Spirit of the Workshop Award
Story Summary

Marsha Light, 59, known as “Nana”, is the owner of “Nana’s 12”, a local small restaurant in Cuba, Missouri. Together, all four generations of the family run two businesses at the same time, a cozy home-style restaurant and a custom woodwork shop.

Family members, including her son and father, help out between the two shops. The woodshop’s products also include caskets and Nana sews the liners for them.
Nana built the businesses as a legacy for her children and grandchildren, and to provide them a place to work and support themselves. She has overcome financial struggles and wants to teach her children the importance of working hard.