Gary Gordon

In 1953, Carl Carpenter signed on for a two-week hitch tending the Berea College campus grounds.
Clearly a stickler for follow-through, Carl is still on the job &#8212; six decades and four college presidents later.
“It’s been a long two weeks,” says Carl, 88. His reign has weathered many changes as new buildings went up and new administrations came and went.
He says he tried retiring 12 years ago but was asked to return part time. &#8220;No way,&#8221; he told them. &#8220;It was fulltime or nothing.&#8221; Each weekday he swipes his time card at exactly 8 a.m. and begins his day. Throughout the year, Carl works outdoors mowing the vast campus lawns, aerating the ground, sweeping snow off sidewalks or laying down salt.
Jeff Reed, assistant director of facilities, says Carl is respected, dedicated and caring about the students. “You don’t see people like that anymore,” says Jeff. Samuel Powell, 19, seasonal mower-landscaper, admires Carl&#8217;s work habits, noting that he works nonstop and breaks only for lunch.
Carl lost his wife, Katherine, two years ago, but several of his seven children visit him each day, prepare his meals and look out for him. Every morning, one of his daughters will make him lunch. One daughter, Wanda Hurt, 56, says some things don&#8217;t change: same Carl, same plain lunch (usually baloney sandwich and chips) in same old lunchbox.
If working outdoors full time at his age were not enough, Carl maintains his own farm. Each morning he rises early to feed his numerous cattle, chickens and cats. When he comes home from work at the college, he repeats the process and collects the eggs before going to bed. “There is always something to do, if you are able to do it,” says Carl.

Institutional memory