By Angel Perkins Editor
Another Triton Elementary  School educator has left its ranks, this one, as of the close of this school year. Born and raised in the Warsaw/Winona Lake area his entire life, Richard Roderick has been teaching fourth through sixth grade students since 1968.

“I started in fifth grade for approximately 14 years and moved on to sixth grade for about 13 years,” Roderick explained. The remainder of those 40 years he was instructing fourth graders.
He said he has enjoyed his teaching career which began and ended with the younger Trojans and the best thing about his job choice was watching the children learn and understand what they were taught. The worst part, in his opinion, was one shared by many educators at any school system—discipline.
Unruliness aside, Roderick said he would miss the interaction with the students involved in the process of learning. His  newly-acquired time won’t be spent missing his job too much though.
He and his wife of 22 years, Cynthia, will no doubt put more time into the maintenance of the family farm where they garden and raise a limited amount of livestock. “There are many openings for service in our community and church,” Roderick explains of other avenues he may pursue to spend his time. He may also give more servitude within his local church (Community Bible Church in Warsaw) and at the Warsaw-Winona Camp of Gideon’s International.
His former students created a bit of a going away present for him, in the form of a song, which said: “We’ll be missing you, Richard. Don’t know what you’ll do Richard. You are always there by a child’s chair pulling out your hair Richard. We’ll be missing you Richard. Don’t know what you’ll do Richard. Throw away your ties. Won’t need fancy togs just for feeding hogs, Richard. We’ll be missing you Richard. Don’t know what you’ll do Richard. Clutter on your desk, clutter on your floor, now it’s Cynthia’s chore, Richard. We’ll be missing you Richard. Don’t know what you’ll do Richard. No more being late, sleep ‘til three or four, don’t matter any more, Richard. We’ll be missing you Richard. Don’t know what you’ll do Richard. No worries in your life. You’re computer free. Be what you want to be Richard. We’ll be missing you Richard. Don’t know what you’ll do Richard. Only eat what’s good, no more sugar sweets, retirement is your treat, Richard.”