Eleven years at Central for 11 different chapters, all in the same book.

Don Castle, a long-term custodian, has retired from the USD 305 district after 21 years.

With Castle’s 65th birthday coming up on Jan. 30, he thought it was a good time to hang it up.

He said he wants to travel and see his sons.

“I want to go visit the boys and spend more time with them,” Castle said. “One of them lives in like Atlanta, Georgia, and another lives in Chicago.”

Castle said he grew up in Schwaan Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

“I was raised overseas,” Castle said. “I want to go to the warmer places for a while. But I’m kind of happy here, I like the four seasons.”

Castle wants to retire to carry out his passion for pool maintenance he just didn’t have time for working at Central.

“I want to be able to do stuff while I can,” Castle said. “Before I get too old, or something comes up.”

Don said he still plans on working part-time at Sam’s Club as a receipt checker.

“I do a lot of stuff outdoors,” Castle said.

After seven years of working with Castle, assistant principal Amanda Thacker said he brought a familiar face to Central.

“There’s that old kind of perspective that people who work with building operations don’t necessarily interact with kids,” Thacker said. “And you could always expect that with Don, he was going to talk to students.”

Thacker said Central’s maintenance staff is amazing.

“They’re constantly setting up and taking down,” she said. “Whatever activity we have going on, they’re working. They have to make sure the floor is done, that the turf is clean. And so there’s all kinds of things that are going on behind the scenes that they’re just constantly working on.”

Thacker said the thing she’ll miss most about Castle is his desire to help.

“He never just constrained what he did in the building to his job,” Thacker said. “There were always things that he would help us look for. He was that extra set of eyes and support.”