The corridors of Heritage Academy in Columbus seem a bit different this semester. Put it down to Charlie Skipper’s retirement. After 42 years, Skipper no longer daily walks the buildings and grounds, keeping an experienced eye on maintenance and cleanliness, turning a hand to whatever is needed or passing out a signature smile or word of encouragement.
Skipper, who will be 69 this month, is adjusting instead to sleeping in a little later, catching up on some TV and fishing — definitely fishing. None of which means he won’t, from time to time, be visiting the school he spent four decades of his life in.
Skipper was at Heritage Wednesday. Tall, slender and sporting the perpetual baseball cap, he reminisced with longtime HA educator and athletic coach Yandell Harris and HA Headmaster Dr. Greg Carlyle.
It seemed that an humbled Skipper still couldn’t get over what had occurred a few days earlier, on Aug. 26. At a pep rally that day, the school’s board of directors presented the retiring custodian with a ceremonial key to the school and a proclamation declaring “Charlie Skipper Day.” He was also presented an honorary diploma and a contribution by the school toward his mortgage on the Habitat for Humanity home Skipper has been in since 2011. Donations for that purpose are still coming in from current and former students, parents, faculty and staff — people whose lives “Mr. Charlie” touched. He was honored again that evening during pre-game activities.
Becoming part of the HA family
Skipper has worked at the school under every headmaster its ever had, through each successive phase of growth and expansion, Carlyle noted. He’s been mechanic, painter, repairman and almost anything else needed.
“He’s a good storyteller, too,” said Harris. The two go way back, to 1983, when Harris first came to Heritage. There wasn’t much Skipper couldn’t fix or do, he said, and that included sorting out a few tasks no one imagined might turn up in the job description, like rounding up farm animals pranksters set loose in the school years ago.
“Charlie was the first person I called to help,” laughed Harris.
“And remember when someone put all those tires around the flag pole?” Carlyle chuckled, as the three men looked back.
What has made Skipper such a memorable fixture at Heritage, however, has been described as a kind and gentle nature, ever-present smile and genuine concern for everyone else, especially the students.
Sampling of memories
Columbus businessman Bob Phillips graduated in 1986. His friendship with Skipper started around sixth grade, when Phillips was a manager for the football team. It solidified during high school, as he played for the HA Patriots. He remembers the older gentleman’s consistent, positive outlook on life.
“I think he could even sense if you were having a bad day,” Phillips said. “Sometimes he’d put his arm around you, like a father figure, and give you words of encouragement. He’d be right there and say something like, ‘Lay it on me, Bobby.’ … He has a way with words.”
Betsy Waters Hicks’ grandfather was one of the founders of the school, so her family has known Skipper since he first joined the HA staff. Hicks and her three siblings all came through Heritage under his benign eye.
Some of Hicks’ fondest memories of Skipper are from her cheerleading years when she spent long hours decorating the school before games.
“He was always there to help us if we needed it, to hang something, get us ladders or anything else we needed,” she said. “And he was always there until the last one of us left, to be sure we were safe.”
Scores of graduates have had their own children, and later grandchildren, enrolled at Heritage. Skipper learned the little ones by name, just as he did with their parents before them.
“I think he knows everybody that’s come through that school,” Phillips remarked.
When Heritage posted Skipper’s retirement on its Facebook page in August, comments poured in. Many read like alumnus Jeff Morrison’s: “Charlie Skipper was a rock of stability and a great friend and confidant for me during my time at Heritage.” Or Diane Earwood’s, “We love this sweet man. He’s a treasure and deserves a much-needed rest. He’s taken care of all of my children and grandchildren at Heritage.”
As to why Skipper stayed for 42 years, “I’m crazy ’bout kids,” he said simply. Long ago, he continued, “I decided I’m stickin’.”
One way to say thanks
Once the school elected to make a gift toward Skipper’s home mortgage, others wanted to help. Anyone wishing to honor Skipper in this way may send donations, preferably by Sept. 15, to Heritage Academy, 625 Magnolia Lane, Columbus, MS 39705, or bring them to the HA Business Office. Checks should be made out to Heritage Academy and designated for the Charlie Skipper mortgage fund. One hundred percent of donations go toward the mortgage. It’s one way to offer tangible thanks, supporters said.
“When you think about Heritage, you think about Charlie Skipper walking the halls,” said Phillips. “I’ll never forget him. He’s a lovable dude: I wish there were more people like him.”
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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