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Joe Bright Retires After Forty-Two Years

For more than twenty years, Joe Bright has often been the first person students and faculty see when they arrive in the Walker Fine Arts Center. 
Joe joined Woodberry’s staff on November 20, 1976 and spent his entire forty-three year career with the Housekeeping Department. When he first arrived at Woodberry, Joe cleaned parts of A and B Dorms before moving in the 1980s to work in Dowd-Finch. He’s been working in the arts building since before its renovation twenty years ago.

“It was fun to see the renovation and expansion and see how much the arts programs have grown,” Joe says. 

Joe grew up in the area and spent time on Woodberry’s campus as a boy because his father was a long-time member of the farm staff. He even worked as an occasional caddie on the golf course. He came to Woodberry fully intending to make this his professional home. 

“I always wanted to stay here,” Joe said. “It’s a nice place to work.” 

Faculty members have long appreciated Joe’s unfailing kindness and his ability to fix unexpected problems in a flash.

“Without fail, every single day, Joe always comes to my classroom to say good morning with great cheer,” said music teacher Lisa Wright, who serves as director of the string ensemble. “His big smile and can-do attitude always helped me face a very busy day. I am in a little bit of denial that he has retired and that I won’t have him greeting me like I’ve had every day for the past nine years.”   

Joe will stay in the area in retirement and said he looks forward to fishing more often at Robertson Lake and to working on his golf game. 
Woodberry Forest admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, and national or ethnic origin to all of the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. The school is authorized under federal law to enroll nonimmigrant students.