Myers says goodbye to Warsaw Elementary School
George Myers is pictured wiping down the tables at Warsaw Elementary School. He has been the janitor there for 37 years and will official retire as of Jan. 3. Josie Sellers | Beacon
WARSAW – When George Myers left Warsaw High School as a sophomore he never would have guessed he’d come back as an adult and spend 37 more years there.
Myers went to first through sixth grade at a two-room school in Blissfield and then moved on to Warsaw for seventh through 10th grade. His junior and senior years were spent at the then newly constructed River View High School where he graduated in 1967. Myers came back to the district in 1980 and has spent the last 37 years working as a janitor at what is now Warsaw Elementary School.
“I wanted to be a bus driver, but you had to sub for a while and it didn’t have benefits,” he said. “At the time I had a seven day old and an 18 month old so I needed those benefits and that’s what made me end up here in this job.”
Since then Myers has made sure the lights work, fans run, grass is mowed, snow is pushed out of the way, floors are cleaned, tables are washed and completed a number of other duties on a regular basis at the school, plus jumped in to clean up spilled milk and deal with other unexpected leaks and problems.
“I’ve always taken pride in keeping the building as clean as possible and gotten a lot of compliments over the years,” he said. “I’ve had seven principals and four superintendents in 37 years and I think it was the second principal who said I had the roofer’s card. I did anything under the roof and that’s what I’ve done – a little bit of everything. If something got real serious I dialed up maintenance.”
He also has never hesitated to pitch in and help set up for special displays and events and even spent a number of years playing Santa Claus for the students.
“I’d wear different glasses and shoes, but after second grade they all started to figure out who I was,” Myers said. “I just retired from doing that in the last year or so. That was a hot job with that Santa suit.”
On Dec. 21, Myers said farewell to most of his duties. He will work one more day on Jan. 3, 2017 and will then be official retired.
“Over all the kids have been really good over the years,” he said. “They are always yelling hi or giving you a high five.”
The staff threw Myers a retirement party on Dec. 19 to celebrate his years of service and afterwards posted pictures from the celebration on Facebook that have reached more than 6,700 people.
“Usually when I post something I might get 600 to 800 views and 100 or so likes,” said Sherri Lawrence, principal at Warsaw Elementary School. “There were all sorts of former students commenting and even grandparents who don’t know him personally but said their grandchildren have lots of stories about him.”
Myers said he has no major plans for retirement, but somewhere down the road he will probably get a part time job and will stay busy farming his family’s 500 acres with his son.
Category: Education
