After 41 Years, Tommy Taylor Retires from LGISD
For 41 years Tommy Taylor worked in the maintenance department of La Grange Independent School District.
Friday was his last day as he embarks on a well-deserved retirement.
For more than four decades Taylor, 63, kept the inner works of the school running smoothly, while also driving buses.
And he did it all with a smile and optimism that made him memorable for most everyone he met.
“He was the epitome of what you want in an employee,” said La Grange superintendent Bill Wagner, who has worked his entire 37-year career at LGISD with Taylor there. “You never knew it if he was having a bad day.”
“He had this special quality that it seemed like everyone remembered something about Tommy,” said Nicole Prasek, the secretary of the maintenance department. “There was not a day he didn’t come in with a smile.”
As Taylor reflected on his 41 years at the school last week in an interview, that positive attitude was evident.
“I did it all and I don’t think there was anything I hated doing. It was a good 41 years,” Taylor said.
And he said it was 41 years that flew by.
Tommy grew up in Columbus but after his mom died when he was 11 his dad built a house in Ellinger. Tommy’s dad died when he was 15 and he was raised from that point by his grandparents.
After graduating from La Grange High School in 1975, Tommy joined the Army and was stationed in Germany.
In August of 1979 he left the military and needed a job.
“Seems just like yesterday,” Taylor said. “I’ll never forget I had just got out of the Army I walked into Atlan Citzler’s office.
Citzler was the school’s business manager then.
“He asked me, do you know Frankie (Srubar, the colorful former maintenance director)? Do you think you can work with him?”
“I told him I could start Monday. He said, ‘Mighty Fine.’”
Taylor loved the maintenance job but it wasn’t his highest career aspiration.
“I had always known I wanted to be a mortician,” Taylor said.
The school district worked with Taylor and allowed him to attend mortician school in Houston in the mornings (where he graduated from Commonwealth Institute as the salutatorian in 1983). Then he’d drive back to La Grange and work at the school in the afternoon and the evening.
He said one of his favorite jobs was running the clock and scoreboard at athletic events and driving buses to and from games.
When not working at the school, he ran Tommy Taylor Funeral Home in La Grange, which he will continue to do in retirement. He also helps out at other funeral homes around the region.
“I always had a lot of energy,” he said.
Taylor said his last day at the school “was going to be kind of emotional.”
They had a going away party for him earlier in December. There were multiple cakes. They gave him a cap that said, “The legend has retired.”
“I’ve been riding around the last few days thinking about how much things have changed,” Taylor said. “You look at that new elementary building (the final stage of which opens this week when students return). It’s like a small junior college now.”
For a man that was always so busy, he said he’s not worried about having too much time on his hands in retirement.
Besides running the funeral home, he can now spend more time with his family. His wife Ruby retired this year after 35 years working at the hospital – though like Tommy, she’ll keep her second job. She also works at Walmart.
They have two kids. Tommy Taylor Jr. lives in Brenham, and works at the state school there. Their daughter Jayce lives in La Grange and works at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. She has a son Jeremiah, 3, who Tommy looks forward to seeing more in retirement.
“I might now finally get a chance to start a garden like my grandparents had,” Tommy laughed.
Though officially retired, Taylor doesn’t think he’s fully done with working for LGISD.
“I have a feeling they will still be calling me sometimes to drive buses,” he laughed.