Bob Campbell retired on June 30 from the McDonald County R-1 School District. He taught 32 years and after that served, since 2013, as director of facilities maintenance.
Campbell graduated from McDonald County High School in 1975 and then attended college at Crowder College and Missouri State University. In 1980 he began teaching building trades classes at the high school.
He said of the school district, "It was a lot smaller as far as building-wise goes. Student-wise it wasn't a lot smaller, population-wise. Buildings have changed, the students have changed, the technology has changed a great deal. We didn't have cell phones back then, we didn't have computers, we didn't have internet."
He worked with Skills USA, a student-based organization for career students to promote leadership. The group competes in events in which they use carpentry and other trade skills.
"We did competitions where we would compete on the district and state level and, if you did well, you would move on to the national level. We placed first at state with several teams, took several teams to nationals. We had two teams on the post-secondary level that competed on the district and state level, went on to national and placed second in the nation," he said.
Also, as part of the curriculum, the trades classes would buy a lot and build a house on it and then sell it, he said. The district still has this program and has had it since about 1968, he added. In that time the district has sold about 27 houses.
"Somebody asked me what was the one thing I was most proud of, of all those years teaching school, and I said it was all those students I had in those classes -- it wasn't what I taught them but what they taught me ... who they became and maybe I had a small part in who they became as adults and maybe that's what I'm most proud of is I had a small part of shaping who they became as adults. We built some houses, we worked in the shop, we learned some individual skills, but we also learned some soft skills like how to conduct ourselves -- like leadership -- and how to be a well-rounded adult."
He said it is "kind of surreal" how quickly the years went by.
At his second job in the district as director of facilities maintenance, he was in charge of anything having to do with new construction, facilities maintenance, grounds maintenance and grounds personnel.
He said his proudest accomplishment in this role was that the district was able to add a lot of FEMA safe rooms at different schools.
"We were able to build safe rooms at five of our campuses over the past seven years. Very good start on that. Upgrade in a lot of areas. It's something I'm kind of proud of. Upgrading facilities in every school the district had," he said.
Campbell added, "I feel like I was very fortunate to have one of the best jobs in the country. I worked with the best people and I was excited about getting up and going to work every day for the last 40 years. I've always enjoyed getting up and going to work."
As for his plans for retirement, he said, "I'll probably try to learn to slow down and maybe decompress, get some things done at home, maybe do a little bit of fishing, I'm going to take it one day at a time. All I've ever known is going to work; now I'm going to stop and smell the roses."
He said he has lots of kids and grandkids nearby.
"They're the best in the world," he said. "I'm fortunate to have a huge family support system. They all live within 20 miles. For me that's huge. They all were born and raised here. They work here. I can see my kids and grandkids and their spouses every day, and that is a great thing."
Superintendent Mark Stanton said of Campbell, "Bob Campbell worked here for 40-plus years. He worked as a teacher and worked with our carpentry classes, built many of the houses in McDonald County with his classes, did a tremendous job with his classes, represented McDonald County Schools very well. Bob loved students and had a passion for kids. His heart was about kids. I'll always appreciate Bob deciding to come up to the district level and be our director of maintenance. We did several projects with Bob here. He was a big part of those pieces."