MEXICO — David Walton can hear his home wood shop calling to him, as well as the memories of meditative experiences when fly fishing.

So, despite serious mixed feelings about retirement, he has decided to end his nearly 40-year career in social work and counseling by retiring from Regional School Unit 10 at the end of the school year.

For 23 years, he has counseled students and met dozens of families in the course of his work. He had also held a similar position for six years in SAD 44 in Bethel. The remainder of his career has been occupied with similar positions at Tri-County Mental Health, SAD 17 in Oxford, the Millinocket School Department, and the Maine Department of Education.

Now it’s time to get busy building that dining table he promised his daughter, Kate, when she married last year, he said, and to get outside in the calmness of flowing waters.

“I feel I’ve made a difference in people’s lives. Students and their families have given me opportunities to join them on their life journey,” he said in his room at Meroby Elementary School.

Although his office is based at Mountain Valley Middle School, his job also takes him to Meroby Elementary School in Mexico, Rumford Elementary School and Mountain Valley High School each week.

At Meroby, a wooden sign he created hangs on the wall saying much about his attitude for and goals with youngsters, “The Friendship Room.”

“This is the place where we work on friendship,” he said.

When Walton, now 65, graduated from high school in North Attleboro, Mass., he went to the Franklin Institute to study auto mechanics. Then he entered the Coast Guard during the Vietnam era, and returned to school once home.

During his first job as a special education teacher in the Millinocket School Department, he discovered what turned out to be a lifelong career. He learned that reading disabilities can seriously affect a child’s self-esteem, self-respect and success. It was then that he decided to go into counseling and social work.

“I got really connected,” he said. “If kids can be successful and happy, that gets you a good part of the way.”

He has always had an upbeat attitude when counseling children and their families.

“We keep the candle of hope burning,” he said. “I have the belief in humanity that we’re always working on a better quality of life.”

Adolescents are always trying to find out who they are, he said. “We help them find their way. They like to be listened to and given feedback. There’s a nice bunch of kids in this district.”

Over the years, the area has experienced more problems with drug addiction, alcoholism and unemployment.

“Being a young person these days is much more complex, particularly with the social media challenge, and setting limits with yourself. I’m hopeful that this work will go on, with new blood and new ideas. Someone to help children and their families along the way,” he said.

Walton graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and the University of Southern Maine where he received a master’s degree and did post-graduate work, as well.

Walton and his wife, Marianne, who is a guidance counselor for Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School adult education, live in West Paris. They are the parents of two adult children, and have two grandchildren and one more on the way.

He has been thoroughly pleased with his years at the former SAD 43 and now RSU 10, he said.

“There are so many wonderful people to work with — students, families and staff,” he said.