(l-r) Allen West, Jerry Strong, Gene Boles, Doug Young

Eugene (Gene) Boles, maintenance man for the Clay County School System for the past 48 years, recently announced his retirement.
“I worked in all the schools in the county including Moss, Oak Grove, Union Hill, Mt. Vernon, Brimstone, Butler’s Landing, Baptist Ridge, and Free Hills among others,” Boles said when he broke the news. “In fact, for the first few years, I was the only maintenance worker for all the schools in the county.”
Boles tenure saw nine different superintendent/directors including Carmon Brown, Frankie Brown, Joe E. Masters, James L. Watson, Mayfield Brown, Alan West, Doug Young, Donnie Cherry, and current director Jerry Strong who all gave him similar instructions: “I know It’s worn out, but we can’t afford a new one Gene. Try to get one more year out of it if you can.”
“Gene was a master at getting one more year out of worn equipment,“ Strong said.
Boles stated that his duties changed much over the years.
“In the beginning, all schools had boilers and I had to keep those going all the time maintaining coal heat,” he said. “I worked on all plumbing and electric for all the schools and basically anything that needed doing.
“I even delivered sack lunches to the school at Baptist Ridge at one time.”
When asked what advice he would give to Clay County Schools Boles replied, “Just keep the good work going.”