By Richard Roller, Assistant Head of School
Don Wing began his Tabor career in 1967 as a geology teacher and dorm parent in New House where he and his wife, Anne, would live for eighteen years. In 1970, Don was asked by Headmaster Jim Wickenden and the Board of Trustees to be a liaison to the Centennial Building Committee that oversaw the construction of what is now the Stroud Academic Center. Don agreed and concurrently assumed responsibility for the larger function of campus wide maintenance. He soon became the director of a newly created construction and maintenance department known today as “Plant Operations.”
Under his leadership, the maintenance crew has grown from a skeleton staff of six, to a highly professional team that now numbers over twenty and includes many highly skilled craftsmen. In support of Tabor’s mission, this group of men and women maintain our fleet of vehicles; over 500,000 square feet of indoor space, and fields and grounds totaling 85 acres. In his 48 years of distinguished service, Don has overseen the construction of numerous campus buildings, designed and facilitated the renovations of most faculty apartments and researched and implemented numerous energy saving initiatives to keep us in the forefront of energy conservation from flourescents to LED lighting and more. It was under his leadership that Tabor achieved the GOLD certification by LEED for our renovation of the Math/Science Wing, ushering in green building techniques to Tabor, incorporating photovoltaics and day lighting studies as well as new water conservation methods. It would be very fair to say that the campus we all enjoy today is largely the product of Don’s vision and good work.
Those of us in Seawolf Nation wish he and Anne nothing but happiness and good health in future years.
Enjoy this
photo from our archives of Don, in 1971, ceremoniously cementing a cornerstone of the Academic Center into place with Headmaster Jim Wickenden, at left, and trustees looking on.
