Tom Haight enjoys his retirement by trimming bushes at his home at 280 Cherry St., Kane. Haight retired recently after working for nearly 30 years as a custodian for the Kane Area School District. He spent most of his career at the Kane MIddle School.

Tom Haight has held a job even before his days as a student at Kane Area High School.

Haight, who retired recently after working nearly 30 years as a Kane school custodian, now plans to do something he has never done. Relax.

As a child, Haight delivered newspapers, including the Kane Republican. Haight then worked as a “helper” for a local milk deliveryman. He’d wake up at 4 a.m. and deliver milk from 4:30 a.m. until his school day began.

While in high school, Haight worked with his father on an oil lease. He also held other after-school jobs that prevented him from participating in high school athletics.

“I couldn’t go out for sports because I had to work,” Haight said with a tone of disappointment.

Life didn’t become easier for Haight after he graduated from Kane High School in 1968. He entered the U.S. Marines.

After serving in the Marines for two years, Haight returned to Kane for his first stint as a school custodian. After a couple of years, he left the school position for other jobs as a milkman, insurance agent and furniture salesman.

In 1980, Haight returned to the school district as a custodian at the middle school. He continued on this job until his recent retirement.

His duties included plowing snow, cutting grass and “taking care of the boiler.” “We were never without heat the whole time I was there,” Haight said proudly.

Haight, who took early retirement at the age of 58, said “I enjoyed just about everything about my job.”

That doesn’t mean he didn’t have his share of hectic days.

“The tornado was the most stressful,” Haight said in reference to the 1985 killer storm that severely damaged the middle school.

“Everything was torn up,” Haight said. “We cleaned up the building and hauled truckloads of glass and debris to the landfill.”

The tornado broke out “every window” on the second floor of the middle school, Haight said. He and his colleagues worked about 24 hours straight to clean up the damage and board up the window openings with sheets of plywood.

During the cleanup operation, a glass shard fell and hit Haight on his head. The fragment “stuck in my head,” Haight said. Rather than seek medical attention, he asked a co-worker to use pliers to “pull it out.”

“I put a bandage on the cut and went back to work,” Haight said. He still has a scar from the wound.

As might be expected, a low point of a custodian’s job comes after a student becomes sick.

“The worst part of the job is when a student throws up,” Haight said. “That happens about once a month—mostly in the classrooms.”

Haight recalled one harrowing experience on his job. That came several years ago when State Police brought in bomb-sniffing dogs during a bomb scare at the middle school.

The school was evacuated as the dog-handlers and their dogs walked down hallways-- with Haight leading the way at the “point.”

“I thought I should have received hazardous pay for that,” Haight joked.

Haight is the son of the late Jack and Lois Haight of Kane. He has two brothers—Dennis and Ralph, both of Kane. He has two sisters—Darlene Kinney of Kane and Sally Allshouse of Russell City.

The retired school custodian is married to the former Kathleen Kearney, a Kane native who works at the registration desk at Kane Community Hospital. The couple met while ice skating as junior high students in Kane and dated through high school.

Haight and his wife, who are members of St. Callistus Catholic Church in Kane, have one daughter, Michele Haight of Bradford, and one son, Dan Haight of Kane. They have two grandchildren.

For the last 15 years of his career, Haight worked during school hours at the middle school and has been observed by the students as they walk in the hallways.

“Some called me ‘Mr. Haight’ or ‘Mr. Janitor,’” Haight said. “Some called me ‘dude.’”

Haight said he tried to maintain his “distance” from the students, but at times had to “get right in their faces” to get their attention to correct a situation involving student health or safety.

“It’s sad to see, but many kids these days are very disrespectful,” Haight said. “It’s our generation that lets them get away with it.”

“I’ve had kids threaten to sue me,” he said. “I tell them ‘go right ahead.’”

While he sees school discipline as a serious concern, Haight is quick to point out that “most of the students are pretty nice.”

He said middle school students are “at an awkward age—both emotionally and physically.”

Looking over his long career at the school, Haight believes one of the “biggest changes” involves the use of technology in the classroom. He said a lot of students are computer savvy and could “teach the teachers.”

Haight, who enjoys gardening and landscaping at his home at 280 Cherry St. in Kane, has another unique pastime.

“I like to watch bull riding,” he said. “We go to as many rodeos as we can to get up close and see it. It’s fascinating to me that someone has enough guts to get on a bull in the first place.”