Dedication Personified

No way! Really? Can’t be happening.

        

Claud’s been here forever. He’s part of the landscape, a permanent fixture, a vital and colorful thread in the amazing tapestry of Collegiate School.

 

In his heyday – and his heyday spanned decades – he was on campus from dawn ‘til dusk, unless there was something going on after the sun went down.

 

He was around then too – until all hours, actually – and he was likely the last one to exit the building before pedaling home on his three-wheeled Schwinn, one of a large fleet he rode over the years.

 

Everybody knew Claud. Not just Collegiate folks. Not just the neighbors. Visiting teams, coaches, and fans. Guests at performances in the theater. Vendors who came to call. Everybody. And they loved him. Hey, how could you not love Claud?

 

Ready smile. Always friendly. Helpful. Considerate. And loyal. To his family, certainly. To his legion of friends. And to Collegiate. How loyal? Passionately loyal. Bleeds-Green-and-Gold loyal.

 

Colleagues come and go. Students come and go. Nobody stays forever, at least not in the employ of the institution or in the student body. Claud would be the exception. At least that’s what I thought.

 

Claud Whitley officially joined the Collegiate Family in September 1968 when he signed on to deliver campus mail and assist with security which in a simpler time meant closing unlatched windows, switching off lights, and locking the buildings at the end of the day.

 

He wasn’t a stranger, though. Not by any means.

 

Diagnosed at birth with cerebral palsy, he lived with his parents on Tarrytown Drive just a short walk through the woods to the North Mooreland Road campus, so he was a frequent visitor at school events, especially when his brother George, class of 1971, was participating.

 

Once on duty, Claud quickly immersed himself in the life of the school. His devotion never waned. Rain or shine, heat of summer or dead of winter, he was often on site seven days a week.

 

“He’d work eight if he could,” George Whitley once said.

 

Claud noticed everything. Everything. Expired inspection sticker? Claud let you know. New car? Out a couple of days? Yep. Claud noticed.

 

One of Claud’s great attributes was his congenial nature.

 

Sure, he could get serious at times. Ask any guy he admonished for having his shirt tail untucked. No ill will intended, of course. He was just following the rules.

 

When you encountered Claud, more than likely he had that familiar, mischievous twinkle in his eye. If you worked late, he would check to make sure you were all right. Since he regularly traveled among school divisions, he carried campus news, and even after the advent of email, we often got the scoop first from Claud.

 

Engaging in good-natured repartee among colleagues made his day. He enjoyed holding court at the lunch table – always the first shift, sometimes the second, occasionally both – and his internal radar directed him to sweets in any campus office, lounge, or workroom where he was always a welcome guest.

 

“Claud knew Collegiate inside out,” said Charlie McFall, long-time athletic director and football coach. “He was remarkable. He always kept an eye on things. He really, really did a good job. He gained the respect of everybody. And he was a lot of fun to be around.”

 

In January 2005 after his parents passed away, Claud moved to Good Neighbor Village in Varina. Despite his dependence on a shuttle to ferry him to and from Collegiate, little changed but his hours.

 

“Claud was really into his work,” said Wilbur Athey, logistics, setup, and special events supervisor whose Collegiate tenure began in 1982. “He’s a great friend. He wanted to make sure people got what they needed, that everything was done right, and that Collegiate was run the way it was supposed to be run. The campus was just like his own home. Every building was his home, and he always took good care of his home.”

 

In September 2018, Claud took a tumble and broke his left hip. Following replacement surgery, he suffered complications and spent considerable time in rehab. He’s healthy and happy now, back at Good Neighbor Village and spreading joy and good will, just as he always did during his long, memorable, and meaningful tenure on North Mooreland Road.

 

“Collegiate has meant the world to Claud and our family,” said George Whitley. “It has given him not only a purpose in life, one that he has approached with a zeal and devotion that is beyond measure, but more importantly a caring and compassionate community that has supported him in every way through his many years of serving Collegiate.  Collegiate has been, and continues to be, a God-given gift in Claud’s life.”

~ Weldon Bradshaw