College Celebrates Retirees and those with 25 Years of Service

	Seated (l-r): Anne Bunting, Francine Cosker, Bill Butos, and Stan Ogrodnik. Standing (l-r): Tony Macro, Elaine Garrahy, Steve Peterson, and Wayne Hudak.

A warm spring sun invited the campus community to the lawn of Smith House on May 4, where nine Trinity employees were honored for their loyalty and dedication to the College. The reception is an annual event to recognize the contributions of faculty and staff members who are retiring and those who have given 25 years of service to Trinity. President Jones welcomed the honorees and a hearty throng of well wishers to the event by noting that those being recognized “epitomize the best intellectual and personal qualities that a liberal arts education has to offer our young people.”

After opening remarks during which he pointed out that, “When our junior colleagues of today gather at a similar event some 25 years hence to reap their due recognition, Trinity will be resting squarely on the solid foundation that has been built by today’s honorees and by all of us working together for the good of our venerable College,” Jones offered best wishes to those employees who have reached the 25-year milestone in their respective Trinity careers.  They are: Anne Bunting, Computing Center; Bill Butos, Economics; Francine Cosker, Computing Center; and Stan Ogrodnik, Athletics. In addition to a certificate of recognition and an enthusiastic round of applause, each 25-year employee was presented with a Trinity chair.  

Retirees were honored with individual citations and were celebrated by close friends and colleagues. Miller Brown, professor of philosophy and former dean of faculty, offered a tribute to Elaine Garrahy, assistant to the dean of faculty. Brown praised Garrahy for her professionalism and patience, as well as her “mastery of the intricacies of faculty and administrative life,” and noted that, without people like her, “the machinery of corporate life at the College would clank and grind to a halt.” 

Bob Laptas, superintendent of grounds, next shared his thoughts about groundskeeper Wayne Hudak. Laptas noted that Hudak began his Trinity career in the central heating plant, which is “practically underground and is filled with equipment so noisy that you can barely hear yourself think.” Hudak transferred to the much quieter grounds department, where “he has been a valued employee for 16 years.”

Kenneth Lloyd-Jones, John J. McCook Professor of Modern Languages and Literature, read aloud remarks he had prepared in honor of Tony Macro, Hobart Professor of Classical Languages. After beginning his tribute in Welsh, Lloyd-Jones switched to English and offered that he had “come to praise our friend Tony Macro, not to bury him.”  Lloyd-Jones went on to say that Macro is a teacher “whose concern for philological sensitivity and linguistic precision has been his gift to generations of students.”

Frank Kirkpatrick, interim dean of faculty, began his tribute to Steve Peterson, associate academic dean, by pointing out that Peterson “has been many things at Trinity: head librarian and College Professor, teacher, scholar, father of a Trinity graduate, and associate academic dean.” Kirkpatrick praised Peterson’s pragmatism and his ability to reduce complicated matters to simple, understandable terms. He made reference to one of Peterson’s oft-repeated phrases: It is what it is. “And that,” explained Kirkpatrick, “summarizes him as well. Steve is what he is: and what he is, is one of the finest administrators and persons Trinity has been privileged to have for many, many years.”

Lincoln Specht, a communications specialist in the Computing Center, is also retiring this year but was unable to attend the ceremony.

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