Hays CISD’s employee ranks have lost another of their “40+ years” members, as longtime district employee Rudy Martinez now joins the ranks of the retired. First on his list of things to do? He plans to “get a lot of projects done around the house,” something his wife Mary, another longtime district employee, will no doubt appreciate. (Photo by Jim Cullen)
by JIM CULLEN
Another forty-year stint as an employee of Hays CISD has come to an end as maintenance worker Rudy Martinez, a native of the area, retires to relax and enjoy the fruits of his labor. There hasn’t been a lot of relaxing for Martinez over the past four decades, as he began work in 1970 while he was still a senior in high school.
“My first job was bus driving students to Camp Gary throughout the day. Then I reported to Kyle Elementary as Night Custodian and repeated the same schedule for 10 years,” he says in looking back over how it all started.
In 1980 he became an electrician’s helper, learning that trade, and in 1990, he moved over to continue his career as a plumber’s helper, the position in which he has worked ever since. Forty years – count them.
Questioned on people he knew and enjoyed along the way, it is perhaps appropriate that Rudy remembers his first supervisor, recently-deceased Morris Schmeltekopf. “And what I remember the most is that Mr. Schmeltekopf was a hard-working man and he worked right along beside us. He was teaching us everything he knew, which I feel made me a better employee to serve Hays CISD. I learned a lot of trades through his guidance.”
He also recalls with pleasure coming to know the late Ted Lehman. “He was such a nice, caring person. I remember taking him to a Lehman High School football game and all the students and staff were greeting him. They acknowledged his presence and that night he stood up with great pride. It was an honor for me to take him and his wife. I will always cherish that memory.”
Family members associated with the district are another source of pride for the new retiree. Among them he counts children and grandchildren who graduated from Hays and Lehman, wife Mary who works at Pfluger Elementary, a sister and daughter-in-law working for the district, and his mother, Guadalupe Martinez, who retired from Kyle Elementary after serving 20 years with the Food Service Department.
Echoing the thoughts of co-workers who’ve been here “more than a few years,” Rudy states the obvious when he says he is “amazed” at how much the district has grown, including the new schools and the number of district employees. “Before, I knew everybody on a first name basis,” he says, recalling a simpler time not so very long ago.
Rudy enjoys meeting new people and seeing students, who he first knew as elementary students, graduate. “I am amazed at how some students see me outside of work and come up to me just to say hello. It makes me feel good.”
As to his feelings on retirement, he admits having mixed emotions, but he knows “it’s time to move on to something new. We shall see what the future holds for me, as long as the good Lord gives me and my family good health, I am a happy person.”
