Board
President Byron Lloyd, left, with Superintendent Jonathan Davis,
presented Lorie Bethel with her retirement plaque at the December board
meeting.
Lorie Bethel had already spent many years as a secretary so when she moved from Pickaway-Ross’ Counseling office to Facilities five years ago she knew she could do the job.
The new position — which entailed overseeing transportation for school trips, handling department purchase orders and finding people and ways to fix things when they broke — let her combine her secretarial skills with knowledge she gained from years of building and selling houses with her husband, Shane.
But in the end, she said, “a secretary is a secretary.”
After almost 15 years at the career center, Lorie will retire at the end of the month. She and Shane, who retired from Mead, will spend time working on their retirement home, helping out with their four grandchildren and traveling in their motor home.
“Just those kind of normal things,” she said.
She is looking forward to this next stage but said she will miss Craig Jones, Facilities manager and her supervisor for the past five years.
“It was just me and Craig from the beginning and I've loved every minute of it.”
Her favorite role was scheduling transportation for student field trips.
“I just really enjoy taking care of the field trips for the kids, making sure that they always happen. I never wanted the kids not to have a trip,” she said, recalling a time when there were four trips and three buses. “You have to get creative but I love it.”
That ability to succeed under pressure is just one aspect Craig appreciated.
“When given a job it always got done and got done quickly. That was a great thing for me; I never had to worry about any job I gave her,” he said.
“Lorie has been a great co-worker and friend and will be sorely missed.”
She’ll also be missed by Health Administration instructor Darcie Scott, Lorie’s daughter, who has loved working on campus with her mom since Darcie was hired in 2019.
“She is always there with an unexpected lunch or if I need help with something. She's my best friend, so it just made transitioning to a new career so much easier,” Darcie said.
“I'll miss getting to see her every morning and having her here for anything that comes up.”
While Lorie looks forward to retirement, leaving will be hard.
“I loved everyone here I have worked with and will miss all of them.”