WEST PARIS – Students always knew they could find her “in the middle of the office in the center of the school.” So wrote second-grader Colin Farrar in a poetic tribute to Alta Pierce, who is retiring as secretary of Agnes Gray School in West Paris after 37 years.
Surrounded by family, friends, co-workers and the students she loved so well, Pierce said goodbye at a party in her honor Tuesday. She knew the moment would be bittersweet, and it was.
Summing up her tenure, she told the crowd gathered in the school gym, “Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to go to work a day in your life.”
“I honestly don’t know,” she said in answer to the question, what’s next. “This summer I’m going to stay put. My daughter is getting married over Labor Day weekend. After that, I’ll see.”
It’s likely she’ll be back at school, but on a less regular basis as a volunteer.
Principal Melanie Ellsworth reminded the audience, “Working at a school isn’t just about working with kids.”
In 1969, when Pierce started, office fixtures were the mimeograph machine and a typewriter. There were no computers, no multiline phones, no cell phones, fax machines, scanners or copying machines. When computers did come in, they were gigantic. Every year has seen technological changes that Pierce had to stay up with, as computers became networked, district e-mail was installed, and schools went wireless.
Over the years, there have been several changes in district administration and in principals. Former Principals Bruce Tyner, Mary Lou Burns, Bill Koch and Wally Litchfield were in attendance. Tyner read stories written by his children, whose poignant memories of Pierce were hilarious.
Donna DiConzo, a parent whose third child now attends the school, noted, “Alta’s shoes will be impossible to fill. She’s worn all the hats there are” – taking recess duty, tutoring small groups of children, substituting in classes on occasion, being the school poet.
Pierce collects poetry, and could be counted on to write a poem whenever anyone retired.
“She’s going to be sadly missed,” said fourth grade teacher Sue Merrill, a sentiment expressed by all those touched by her good grace over the years.
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