Friends, family and faculty gathered Thursday afternoon to bid farewell to nearly 1,000 total years of service to education.

A ceremony at Beechwood Elementary’s gymnasium honored the 38 retiring employees of the Vicksburg Warren School District. All together, the parting teachers, principals, counselors, cooks, custodians, bus drivers and assistants worked 943 years in education.

“Everyone we’re honoring here today has contributed to a child’s education and touched lives,” Superintendent Dr. James Price said. “And there is probably no higher calling or greater purpose.”

Helen BowmanOf this year’s retirees, none left the profession with more experience than Helen Bowman and her 43 years in education.

Ending her career as a counselor at Bowmar Elementary, the Vicksburg native started in the district in 1967, teaching home economics at Jefferson Junior High. She had previously taught two years in other school districts.

Twenty years later, she left home economics education to counsel single parents in the school district and then started her counseling tenure at Bowmar in 1989.

“And I enjoyed every moment,” Bowman said at the reception following the ceremony. “I really couldn’t see myself doing anything else. I loved what I did.”

Bowman said she was looking forward to life in retirement, already making plans to spend more time with her father and the rest of her family, working in the yard and traveling, which will start in July when she heads to Orlando, Bowman said.

But Bowman also mentioned there would be a void in her new life, like not getting her hugs every morning.

“I will miss the children,” she said. “They’re what makes it all worthwhile and what kept me going for so many years.”

Other retiring faculty said it was the children they would miss as well.

“They’re what it’s all about,” said Dianne Wilder, who gave 25 years to the school district, including 21 assisting Pam Jennings in teaching first-graders at Warrenton Elementary.

“I was there to put every Band-Aid on every boo-boo,” she said. “I was the old lady who came out to greet them in front of the school every morning, rain or shine.

“It’s a tough thing to walk away from.”

And while Wilder said she would miss the job, Jennings said Wilder would be missed as well.

“I know the children will miss her, but so will I,” she said. “Her smile, her happiness, her energy. And she was always a step ahead in finding ways to help. She was wonderful.”

Price’s final message to all the retiring employees was similar.

“You will be missed, you will be remembered,” he said in his speech. “You touched thousands of childrens’ lives.”

RetireesBeechwoodAndra Bonelli, teacher, 34 yearsRosalind McMiller, cafeteria staff, nine years.BowmarHelen Bowman, counselor, 43 yearsBarbara Burns, principal, 34 years.Barbara Clark, secretary, 38 1/2 years.Emma Carter, cafeteria staff, 34 years.GroveJosie Williams, teacher, 29 years.South ParkDorothy Arnold, teacher, 31 years.Sheila Betts, teacher, 33 years.Evelyn Montgomery, teacher, 37 years.Wanda Wilson, teacher, 28 1/2 years.WarrentonWilma Pendleton, cafeteria staff, 32 years.Dianne Wilder, assistant teacher, 25 years.Vicksburg IntermediateRay Emerson, custodian, 9 years.Ethel M. White, custodian, 8 years.Warren IntermediateSuzanne Harpole, teacher, 28 years.Ethel Clark, teacher, 26 1/2 years.Vicksburg JuniorJeanette Barnes, teacher, 25 1/2 years.Alfred Brown, assistant teacher, 18 years.Leslie Newton, teacher, 37 years.Linda Stewart, teacher, 27 1/4 years.Jane Russell, teacher, 34 years.Warren JuniorJanice Ashley, teacher, 23 years.Rita Goldman, teacher, 28 1/3 years.Joy Graham, teacher, 30 years.Vicksburg HighDouglas Branning, assistant principal, 28 years.Steven Brown, teacher, 25 years.Warren CentralAlma Dedeaux, teacher, 28 years.William Dooley, teacher, 7 years.Randy Jolly, teacher, 27 years.Mytrice Harris, teacher, 23 years.Mary Warren, guidance counselor, 39 years.Marilyn Wilson, custodian, 6 1/2 years.Transportation

Sue Bishop, bus driver, 18 years.Mattie Brown, bus driver, 8 years.Betty Carroll, bus driver, 11 years.Mary Chester, bus driver, 11 years.Daisy Ross, bus driver, 10 years.