An Influential Man

At the reunion celebrating the 100th anniversary of Daggett Elementary School, Barbara and I stood in a hall crowded with former students. Little Hispanic girls passing out programs dashed between the legs of tall adults.

Barbara and I kept looking at name tags, hoping to find one we recognized. No luck. Lots of gray hairs, but, shockingly, all topped heads at least ten years younger than ours.

My brother Don made his way through the crowd and exclaimed excitedly, “Dunaway is here!”

He called to his wife, “Mary, come take a picture of me with Dunaway.”

Bill Dunaway who was the school’s janitor for 38 years, from 1947 to 1985.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram quoted another former student, Deborah Bolles Carl, remembering Dunaway as “He always had a twinkle in his eye and knew all the kids and knew all their names. He was a very important part of the school.”

Don recalled fondly how, as a little boy, Dunaway let him come into the school’s boiler room and showed him all the gauges and pipes. As a ten-year-old student of the janitor, my brother learned how to heat a large building.

Don became an engineer. He worked for various contractors from Dallas to San Diego to St. Louis to New York. He worked in the Manhattan headquarters of the World’s largest building contractor, where he was engineer in charge of all the mechanical work – heating, air-conditioning, plumbing, and electrical for schools, hospitals, and 30-story office buildings. His work took him all over the U.S. and to Berlin, Germany, and Sao Paulo, Brazil. A fine career inspired by the school janitor.

I moved to Texas three years ago to be near Don and Mary. They are the ones I call whenever this old lady needs help. They were vital in my move into my apartment, hauling furniture and boxes up to the third floor. Don used his precise engineer’s talents to measure carefully and hang all my pictures.

Don and Mary took me with them when they drove to Fort Worth to celebrate Daggett’s anniversary. When dignitaries were introduced, the audience clapped politely for the superintendent of schools and the Congressman. When Dunaway was introduced, everyone stood up and gave this former janitor a standing ovation.