Five long-time Hallsville school faculty members plan to retire soon, and the district is celebrating their years of service Wednesday.
“The Hallsville (ISD) will honor five employees who are retiring from the Hallsville schools on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the Hallsville High School Cafeteria located at 616 Cal Young Rd.,” said Carol Greer, HISD director of communications. “Collectively the group has given a total of 115 years of service and dedication to the students and staff of HISD. The public is invited to attend.”
The employees are Wayne Deakins, Jan Hopkins, Danny Poindexter, Peggy Johnson and Ruth Yielding. Each has served the district for several years and leave fond memories with their fellow employees.
Deakins worked with HISD for 20 years at several campuses.
“Wayne Deakins has worked with Hallsville Schools for 20 years,” Greer said. “Prior to coming to HISD he worked for Texas Eastman for 30 years. He worked in the area of all our landscaping and campus improvement and beautification of the grounds for the district including five campuses, District Operations Center, Administration Building, Little Cats Pre-K, transportation department, Administration Annex Office Building as well as other properties the HISD owns. Mr. Deakins is a very hard worker who takes extreme pride in all he does. We will certainly miss him at HISD.”
Johnson has worked with HISD for 22 years, helping to serve meals to students from kindergarten to third grade. According to Greer, Johnson often volunteers to help with district activities.
“Peggy Johnson has worked for HISD Food Service for 22 years and in Longview Cafeteria for three,” Greer said. “She is manager of the cafeteria at East Elementary School and serves grades K-3, and staff. Peggy is an outgoing, friendly person who loves children and people. She would help anyone in any way she could. She volunteers in other ways to help the district in all areas.”
Johnson also trained new cafeteria employees.
“Peggy is a great trainer for new cafeteria staff,” said Marci Rutland, HISD director of Chartwells School dining services. “She knows how to do each task and relates well when teaching new food service employees. She is known all over the district for her delicious cinnamon rolls. She may bring them to each campus as a surprise. She always wanted the best presentation of food at a banquet or through the lunch line.”
Also retiring from the district’s food services is Yielding, who has worked at HHS for 27 years.
”Ruth, if I could say two words, it would be; dedicated and hard working,” Rutland said. “She is very creative and willing to try new recipes using different kinds of foods. She is extremely innovative, always working to come up with innovative ideas, when it came to commodities she was creative and experimental, willing to take a chance with new ideas and they worked.
“She would also think of ways to change service to enhance procedures and areas for lines to rotate with a large number of students. She has worked at the high school for 27 years, serving grades nine to 12.”
Greer maintains that Poindexter has been valuable to the continued maintenance of HISD’s various appliances needed to operate schools.
“Danny Poindexter has probably worked on more appliances than any serviceman in town,” she said. “From washing machines, to dish washers, from pencil sharpeners to air conditioners, he knows how to fix them all and has done so for HISD for 18 years.”
Finally, Hopkins has served the district as a teacher for numerous years, and has also worked as a technology specialist to help her fellow teachers in educating Hallsville’s students.
“Jan Hopkins has been such an asset to the district,” said Toni Erickson, instructional technology coordinator. “She was an amazing teacher when she was in the classroom, and has been invaluable as a Technology Specialist helping teachers integrate technology in the classroom, as well as creating multimedia lessons (for) student use. The positive impact that Jan has made on Hallsville ISD will be remembered for years to come.”
The celebration is set for Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. in the HHS cafeteria. For more information, contact HISD at (903) 658-5990.
“The dedication of each one of these employees was appreciated by HISD,” Greer said.
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