That’s a Lot of Years!

Our kids know what they have. Yesterday, as Chatham Hall does every year around this time, we
gathered in St. Mary’s Chapel to recognize years of service to the
school. What is truly wonderful about this gathering is that everyone is
present. Office staff, teachers, food service employees, the building
and grounds crew, the housekeeping staff who keep this place looking
immaculate, administrators, and those people for whom this place exists:
the students. As the Chapel filled up, those arriving early were being asked to move
all the way down their row, to fill in and leave the end seats open for
those of us who were finishing up phone calls, vacuuming that last bit
of carpet, setting up lunch, keeping up with the acres of mowing. Many
of us were milling around looking for a place to sit, when a body of us
headed up to the choir seats up front. Feeling a bit on display and
knowing that we would not necessarily be, as a group, meeting the high
standards of any of our choirs, we took seats on both sides and I found
myself between two department chairs, behind Admissions, and, as I
looked across to the other set of seats, I was looking at the Building
and Grounds staff. After a hymn and some words about blessings on the part of our
chaplain Dr. Edwards, Dr. Fountain spoke eloquently about those
employees who have, as of this year, worked at Chatham Hall for 5, 10,
15, 20, 25, 30, and 50 years. As each person made his or way up to the
front to receive a certificate, the place erupted in cheers and
applause. That cheering and applause continued, as enthusiastically as
when it first broke out, as the employee accepted the certificate, in
many cases received a hug, and made the way back to his or her seat. It
seemed that many of the recipients had sat toward the rear of the
Chapel, so the walk down and back, was extra long. And the cheering
continued. And the applause never diminished until after each person had
regained a seat. Chatham Hall’s students know what they have here. They have beloved
teachers (Dennis Reichelderfer – 5 years! Sheppard Morrison — 10
years! Mary Lee Black — 20 years! Cheryl Haymes, Cathy LaDuke, and Geoff Braun — 25 years! And the retiring Bill Black — 30 years!), and
beloved food service people (Stella Hubbard, Tim Morehead, Bernice Oakes
— 10 years; Cheyenne Martin Barksdale — 15 years! And Lucille Payne
— 50 years!). Our students have beloved Housekeepers (Brenda Lawence —
5 years! Catherine Tucker — 10 years!), and administrators (Vicki
Wright and Robert Ankrom — 5 years!). Chatham Hall students have people
who care about them — and who care about them a lot. This place is
clean (very clean), the food is good (very good), the grounds and
buildings are all kept beautifully (very beautifully), and the classroom
teachers (we’re all teachers, right?) open the minds of our students to
explore, question, and think. (And they do that pretty well, too!)

I don’t know about the kids, but my hands hurt when all was said and
done. We had celebrated 16 people — a combined 260 years of service.
There was even one standing ovation (Hey! We get out of our seats for
retirement!). There is a lot of good will in this place because everyone
works hard and we all appreciate the efforts of our colleagues and of
our students. As Lucille Payne received her certificate, I thought that
every student who was applauding and cheering for her had certainly
indulged in one of the cookies on the platter on the cart that she
wheels all the way from Yardley to the Arcade every Wednesday. By senior
year, everyone will have taken a class with Geoff Braun, Dennis
Reichelderfer, and Cheryl Haymes. Everyone has been overcome by the
sheer beauty of this campus and by all the work that is behind that
beauty. A year from now, as this year’s recipients move into their sixth,
eleventh, sixteenth, and so on, years of service, we will meet again,
overflowing into the choir loft, to recognize a new group who has
achieved the “years ending in five and zero” milestone. And kids will
clap and cheer. And not because this next crop will be all of their
favorites???because it is not about favorites. It’s about a community and
the important work that everyone does to make Chatham Hall the school
that it is. (Standing ovation!)