30 years strong

Every time I pass William in the halls of Monroe, I’m always greeted with a smile. The almost 66 year old custodial worker has racked up 30 years with William and Mary, but he’s still happy to come to work everyday.

How long have you been working here?

18 years.

That’s a long time.

I worked here before, I left and I came back, so basically I’ve been here about 30 years all together. I like it because I always see different people, and I enjoy talking to them, and I enjoy smiling.

I’ve worked in at least five different buildings. Every three or four years, I change.

What’s your favorite memory?

When I used to drive the green machine. You  may not remember that, but they used to have buses that rode around William and Mary. We called them the green machines. That was my most enjoyable moment, driving those green machine.

Is there a specific memory of meeting somebody that stands out to you?

Yeah, the governor’s daughter. I didn’t know who she was. She never told me [who she was]. She was trying to be like everyone else. She didn’t want everyone to know she was the governor’s daughter, but anyways, she was a nice girl.

When we used to drive the buses, we could go all over. We would take student groups to Washington DC, to the mountains. I have good memories from that. Basketball teams, football teams.

What’s the farthest place that you drove on a bus?

Probably DC. We went up in the mountains, like Charlottesville, Blacksburg. We went everywhere.

If you could give one piece of advice to a group of students here, what would you tell them?

Life is short, study hard, and make the best of it.

Why would you choose that advice?

Because I learned that. That’s my advice to you and to myself.

If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?

Right here talking to you.

*laugh* That’s good. So you’re pretty satisfied with your life right now?

Oh yeah, I’m almost 66, so I retire [not this August but next August]. I got about a year and a half before I retire.

Do you know what you want to do when you retire?

Travel.

Where would you want to go?

Everywhere. Yeah, everywhere.

Where are you from?

I’m from Harrisonburg, Virginia. Do you know where that is?

Oh yeah, I used to play with a guy from Harrisonburg. The name is Ralph Sampson.

That actually sounds really familiar.

He’s probably one of your best alumni from Harrisonburg. He was one of the best in basketball, seven foot one.

Where are you originally from?

Williamsburg, Virginia. This is home, but I left and came back. That’s why I left this job. I worked the job 12 years, then I left and came back and started again. I stayed in Las Vegas for 10 years. Oh, I enjoyed that.

What did you do out there?

I cooked. Then I came back here. I had to come back to help take care of my parents.

Would you have stayed out there if you could’ve?

Oh yeah! If I didn’t need to come back, definitely. I wouldn’t be here. There’s a whole different lifestyle [in Las Vegas]. Nicer weather, real nice weather.