Retirement Luncheon Honors Employees' Years of Service

VALDOSTA - Colleagues, family and friends gathered on June 3 in the University Center to honor Valdosta State University’s newest group of retirees. During the annual luncheon, sponsored by the Council on Staff Affairs (COSA) and the President’s Office of University Events and Ceremonies, 41 faculty and staff who have retired within the past year were honored for their years of service. This year’s group represented 804 years of combined service to VSU.

Judy Hart, retirement and compensation specialist, announced plans to establish a VSU Retirement Association for the university’s more than 430 retirees who are currently receiving benefits. The newly formed association will help develop a positive relationship between the university community and retirees as they work together to support the values and mission of VSU.

“The mission of the association is to encourage retirees to stay involved with VSU, utilize retirees as mentors for faculty, staff and students, and find ways for retirees to volunteer and assist with university events,” Hart said. “We will develop a newsletter that will provide retirees with the latest information on benefits and activities of the university.”

The VSU Retirement Association will hold an organizational meeting on Tuesday, July 15, at 1:30 p.m., in the University Center Cypress Room. All VSU retirees are invited to attend this meeting and become active participants in the association.

The luncheon also included recognition of current and past retirees who were receiving a commemorative brick on the Retirement Walkway. Dedicated in 2001, the Retirement Walkway features 409 bricks that line the walkway between the Hugh C. Bailey Science Building and West Hall. Each brick is engraved with the employee’s name, department or academic discipline and years of service. Retirees may purchase their own brick or often it is purchased by colleagues as a token of appreciation for their years of service.

COSA presented President Ronald M. Zaccari with a commemorative brick honoring his six years of service and honored three previous presidents who had not yet received a brick including Richard H. Powell (1911-1933), Jere M. Pound (1933-1934) and Frank R. Reade (1934-1948). Other distinguished honorees included Annie Powe Hopper, the institution’s first dean of women, and Frances Worstall, the university’s oldest living retiree who recently celebrated her 100th birthday.

Current retirees as of August 2008 include:

30 or more years of service
Edward Alexander
David L. Scott
David Surrency
Bobbie Jean Williams

20 or more years of service
Ralph Allen
Patricia Lynn Anderson
Dennis Bogyo
Jack Edwards
William E. England
Jack Hasling
Hazel Hewett
Minnie M. Hill
Robert A. Lee
John Magnasco
Donnie J. McGahee
Eneida Pugh
John Samaras
Estelle Stewart
Robbie Strickland
David W. Winder

10 or more years of service
Bobby M. Alderman
Robert T. Aldinger
Carol Ann Barnett
Gayle M. Brooks
John Brooks
Patrick C. Burns
Patricia Chaney
Ellen Hope Erickson
Curtis L. Foster
Robert Graham
Charles E. Harmon
Carolyn G. Howard
James Jenkins
Jessie A. Lokrantz
Randy H. McElvey
Carolyn Shaw
Wenju Shen
Maria Taylor
Julius Thomas
John R. Wilkinson
Belinda Yeager