Staff photo / Bob Coupland Lordstown resident Pat Hogan retired June 30 from the Lordstown Local School District after 48 years, including 46 years as the superintendent’s secretary / administrative assistant.

LORDSTOWN — Patricia Hogan’s Lordstown Local Schools roots go back a long way.

“This is my alma mater, and my mother and grandmother both graduated from here,” Hogan said. “I have always been proud of my school district. I have always been proud to represent Lordstown.”

Hogan retired June 30 after a 48-year career in the school district, including 46 as the secretary / administrative assistant. Her career spans 14 superintendents and interim superintendents.

If she hadn’t spent just shy of a half-century as secretary to superintendents, perhaps she would have done something more botanical instead.

“I really enjoy being able to garden and will be planting more flowers now that I will have the time,” Hogan said.

Hogan said having a variety of flowers in her garden is what she always has wanted to do. Now that she has the time to shop and cultivate, she said she’s making plans to get the wide variety of flowers she’s always wanted for her garden.

Gardening wasn’t her first career choice.

Back in her school days, when she was listening to one of her favorite groups, Herman’s Hermits, singing such hits as “I’m Into Something Good,” she took all the business courses and office technology and typing classes that were offered. She said she knew she wanted to work in an office somewhere.

She just didn’t expect it to be for the school district so much a part of her family.

Mere days after graduating from Lordstown High School in 1972, Hogan returned.

“I went to work the day after my high school open house and have been working here ever since. I didn’t get too many summers off,” Hogan said.

Her first job was with guidance counselor Jack Beard.

“I was working in the guidance office on special projects and also substituting for other secretaries in Lordstown my first year. My next year, I was the secretary for TAMPEEL through the Educational Service Center. That was the nature land lab that all the schools brought student to,” Hogan said.

Hogan said it was Gordon D. James who hired her as a his secretary when he was superintendent.

“He asked me about taking the job and I almost told him no, but my friends and neighbors talked me into taking it. I said I would try it for a week, and I have been here ever since,” Hogan said.

She said James was a great first boss for whom to work. Eventually, the career center named for him. Other superintendents she’s worked for include Dean Bailey, Jim Hall, Ron Schuster, Ray Getz, Doug Shamp, Bill Pfahler, Terry Armstrong and Lew Lowery.

In addition to day-to-day needs of the superintendent’s office, each month she prepared the board of education agenda, which some months can be bulky, in addition to any special meetings. She also helped with all correspondence between the superintendent and the staff and students. Hogan also handled all the mail for the district and walked it to the elementary and high school offices.

Hogan said major events she always will remember were the opening of the high school building in 1976 and the Gordon D. James Career Center in 1977.

“I remember helping to send out all the invitations for the open house and dedication. It was an exciting time and a busy time,” she said.

She said it was a hard time when the career center closed in 2003.

“I felt really bad when it closed, but they renovated the career center into the elementary school. There was a lot of work done on the building,” Hogan said.

Hogan said she will remember how the students and staff with their children would stop in to see her and often get one of the Tootsie Roll lollipops that she kept at her desk.

“When Mr. Armstrong was here, he always stayed in contact with the students, recognizing them for their achievements and honors. They would stop at the office, and that is how I got to know many of them,” she said.

“I have always enjoyed being here around the staff and the students. I live nearby so I could always walk to work.”

She said she and former employee Rhonda Mansell, a retired elementary school secretary, worked together for many years.

“We were both hired around the same time, and we were told we would both be able to retire early since we had started so young. I went longer at working,” Hogan said.

It will hard to leave the job where she’s worked for such a long time, she said. But it will give her time to travel, including to Ireland, from where her father emigrated. She also looks forward to spending more time with her sisters, including her twin, Pam. She and Pam often were mistaken for each other in their school days, she said.

“We still look alike, but people used to confuse us more when we were younger,” she said.

She said she also wants to do more volunteering at Lordstown Lutheran Church and also gardening, which she finds relaxing.

She also likes to spend her time shopping, which she said was one reason she kept working.

To mark her retirement from the district, school secretaries Sharon Sinn and Jill Cukovich coordinated a drive-thru retirement send-off June 27 outside the elementary school for people to stop and wish Hogan well and also receive a retirement snack.

Hogan’s sister also helped at the event.

One of the gifts she received from her co-workers was a message from Peter Noone, lead singer of Herman’s Hermits, who left her a voice message of congratulations. She keeps the message saved on her phone.

Something tells her she’s into something good.