At graduation this year, the Frank S. Walker Award was presented to three long-time members of the Woodberry Forest staff. The award recognizes the staff member who “has given most unselfishly in performance of his or her duties.” Receiving the award were Kathy Maxwell and Diane Taylor, both of whom spent many years in food services, and Bob Wood, who was Woodberry’s lead carpenter. Kathy Maxwell first came to Woodberry in 2002. Her close friend and neighbor Harold Phillips washed dishes in the kitchen, and he suggested that she look into finding a job at Woodberry.
“Harold was always looking out for me,” said Kathy. “He talked to Clyde Firman about hiring me. Next thing I knew, Clyde was calling to invite me to campus for an interview.”
Kathy had never been to the Woodberry campus even though her grandparents lived right next to it. She immediately fell in love with the place. Clyde offered her a position, and she started work the following Monday. For more than twenty years, Kathy served Woodberry boys. On a typical day, she arrived by 6:30 a.m. to set up breakfast. After the boys and faculty came through to eat, she cleaned to prepare for lunch. Her day ended at 3:00 when she made the drive back to Gordonsville, her longtime hometown.
“Kathy is full of salt and vinegar,” said Food Service Director Craig Heath. “She arrives eager and ready to go. She speaks her mind, is very funny, and very caring. She has been our social liaison to the faculty, especially faculty with children.”
Kathy retired from Woodberry in July 2023, so that she could spend more time with family.
“I have four children and twenty-five grandchildren,” said Kathy. “My family is my heart, and it’s time for me to spend more time with them. But I will miss the people at Woodberry. I already do. Saying goodbye is hard.” “Kathy held everyone on our team together,” said Craig. “She was very interactive with students and was a motherly figure to everyone. With her retirement, we are losing so much experience and knowledge. And it sure is a lot quieter with her not here.”
Diane Taylor worked alongside Kathy for two decades. Diane came to Woodberry in April 1984. She started in the Fir Tree Snack Bar as a cashier as well as working in the kitchen part-time. But for the last twenty-nine years, she’s been a full-time presence in the kitchen. Much like Kathy, she sets up breakfast and helps with the cooking from time to time.
“Before the new dining hall opened, I worked the eleven o’clock shift in the old kitchen, helping with the salad bar and bakery,” she said. “We had to cover two floors: food prep was downstairs, and then we would take the elevator up to the dining room and serve people up there. I’ve been here so long, I remember when Dr. Hulsey was a Woodberry student.”
Diane has a fifty-one-year-old son who lives in Richmond, a forty-six-year-old daughter in Orange, three grandkids, and a great-grandson.
“In many ways, Diane is the opposite of Kathy,” said Craig Heath. “She is quiet and keeps to herself, but she is pure business. She is dependable and gets the job done.”
The third Walker Award recipient is Bob Wood. Bob came to Woodberry in 1995 and was hired as a lead carpenter. He had a family member who was employed by the school and had visited the campus Kathy Maxwell two years prior. Before Woodberry, Bob was working in Fredericksburg as a master cabinet maker. “What I liked most about being here was that every day was different,” said Bob. “We all knew that the boys came first, and I enjoyed trying to keep everyone happy. I also loved being outside on this beautiful campus.”
Bob figures he’s been inside every dorm room and faculty residence on campus, with the exception of the new houses currently under construction. From countertops to nameplates . . . even making sure the campus is equipped with enough fire extinguishers, Bob has seen it all.
“Certainly, every day is different at Woodberry,” said Bob. “When I first counted fire extinguishers, there were only thirty-eight! There are now more than 450 to make sure we are up to code.”
Like Kathy, Bob retired in the summer of 2023. Ironically, some of the work he is most proud of is retirement boxes he crafted for other departing employees.
“It started with Dennis Campbell’s retirement,” said Bob. “Catherine Wharton asked me if I could make a wooden box that would hold letters people had written to Dennis. I used oak from a tree that had come down on campus, and I burned the school seal on the lid. It came out really well, and since then, I have built ten more for staff when they’ve retired.”
Another project Bob is proud of is the fence that goes around The Residence. He built that several years ago, and it looks like it will remain standing for many years to come.
“I have so many great memories of so many good people,” said Bob. “It would be hard to beat my last month here. Getting the Frank S. Walker Award and receiving a standing ovation. I felt like a superstar that day. And then at my retirement party, looking at all the friendly faces, in a room filled with love. I feel like I went out on top. I actually worked two and a half hours of overtime on my last day because I still had so much to do!”