Retirement

John E. Cuny, who has served as vice president for finance and treasurer at Centre College since 2000, recently announced his plans for retirement, the college said in a press release. Cuny will continue to work at the college in a full-time role until June 30, 2012. To assure a smooth transition, he will remain in a half-time capacity for an additional year, through June 2013. A national search for Cuny’s successor will be launched this fall, with an anticipated start date of July 1, 2012.

The school system structure in Garrard County is set to change again, as Superintendent Donald Aldridge told the school board during Tuesday's meeting  he will be retiring effective June 30. “I thought it was a good time, while I've still got my health and my wife's still got hers,” Aldridge said in a phone interview. “We can enjoy life.” Since July 2009, when he began as superintendent of Garrard County Schools, Aldridge said the county has made “tremendous gains.”  “Student achievement, attendance data, office referrals, in-school suspensions, out of school suspensions, college and career readiness, dropout rate, graduation rate and general fund balance have all improved in the 3 1⁄2 years I've been here,” he said.  According to Aldridge, the attendance numbers have increased from 93.21 percent to 94.30 percent; suspension numbers have decreased from 410 to 203; and the graduation rate has increased from about 63 percent to about 73 percent.  He admitted there were still things he would have liked to have accomplished, such as placing security cameras in all the schools.

“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting system through which God speaks to us every hour, if we only tune in.” - George Washington Carver I learned to read at Poage Elementary School in Ashland. The library was located in the front of the school, as all school libraries should be. Across the wall in that library were biographies of great Americans. I think I read most of them because, though they were short, they were really good. In fact, most libraries across the country had them on their shelves.

Robert Blanton, right, the city's director of development services, chats with Verne Orndorff at his retirement reception yesterday at City Hall. At left is Eva Blanton and Robert's father, Paul Blanton. Blanton recently left his position after 32 years of service to Winchester's city government.

When he moved to Wilmore 21 years ago, Steve Boven, who had retired after 14 years with the Michigan State Police, took a position with the Wilmore Police Department to help pay bills while he studied for a master-of-divinity degree at Asbury Theological Seminary, which he earned in 1998. “He thought he was at the end of his tenure (as a law-enforcement officer), and we thought he was too,” Wilmore Mayor Harold Rainwater said. “We were just buying some time with him while he was in school.” Boven had no thoughts of continuing his police career past his time at ATS, but when police chief Roger Swallows died in December 1994 following a battle with cancer, Rainwater said it was apparent that Boven was the right person for the job. “It became evident that Steve was the one to step in and help in Roger's last months,” the mayor said.

Re-inventing oneself isn't easy, but Boyle County resident Roy Edmiston has been able to do that many times in his life. Edmiston, who jokingly calls himself a “jack of all trades and master of none,” has been the manager of a bar; a musician (and still is in his spare time); worked at the Edmiston Brothers Lumber Co. (later known as Boyle Lumber); worked at two engineering firms in surveying; co-owned a Danville painting store called Paint People; and retired from Centre College after 16 years.  However, after all that, the 61-year-old decided there was more to be done, mostly because he discovered something about himself.

I think I am living in an alternate universe. On second thought, I know that I must be, because you are not going to believe what I’m about to write. My friend Erica sent me a text message last night that said, “Getting married June 10! Save the date!” Dear friends, I know that you thought I was done writing about the “m” word. I announced my retirement and I swore it all off for good. But something always pulls me back. An external force that is beyond my control.

It's been five years since Roy Kidd retired from the coaching ranks. Just because he is no longer active in the coaching circles doesn't mean the legendary retired football coach at Eastern Kentucky University is taking it easy. In fact, he is as busy as ever playing golf, traveling and catching up on things he missed out on while he coached at Eastern from 1964-2002. He remains close to the university where he won 315 games and had a stadium named in his honor long before he coached his last football game at the school.

The Winchester-Clark County Planning Commission learned last night that the city development services director for the last 32 years, Robert Blanton, will be retiring at the end of this month. Blanton, who turns 55 this year, handed in a letter of retirement to city officials on Jan. 31 and will officially leave office March 1. The Winchester Board of Commissioners accepted his retirement last night. "I've been here for 32 years," he said. "I'm of retirement age. It gets to the point at some point that the state retirement system doesn't pay you to work.

Dear Editor, Kentucky and its cities are headed for financial disaster. They have a retirement system that is out of control, rising insurance costs and insufficient taxes on retiree income. Some suggest that our present retirement system is underfunded. I suggest that it is simply overspent. Employees are allowed to retire too early, and the benefits are too great. We have government workers retiring before age 50. They are often rehired, sometimes into the same jobs. Full insurance is sometimes provided free to both the workers and their families.

FRANKFORT (KPNS) - Gov. Steve Beshear announced Friday that Marcheta Sparrow of Harrodsburg will retire May 31 from her post as Kentucky secretary of Tourism, Arts and Heritage. “Secretary Sparrow has done a fantastic job of continuing to improve and develop Kentucky's tourism through some very challenging times. The recently announced 4.4 percent growth in 2012 tourism economic impact is a direct result of her leadership.” Beshear said in a news release. “I want to thank her for her steady leadership and her lifelong contributions to Kentucky's travel and hospitality industry, which have played an important role in maintaining tourism as a major economic force for Kentucky.” Sparrow was named secretary in December 2007 by Beshear after serving nine years as president and CEO of the Kentucky Tourism Council, now the Kentucky Travel Industry Association.

PIKEVILLE - Mark A. Gooch, president and CEO of Community Trust Bank, announced Glenda Meredith, assistant vice president and market operations officer at the Danville Main Street office, has retired from Community Trust Bank after 16 years of service. Meredith's job responsibilities while at Community Trust included managing the deposit operations at the Danville Main Street office and overseeing the security operations for the Danville market. Meredith notes, “I started my career in banking at the Bank of Danville in 1969 in bookkeeping and worked in all areas of deposit operations and served as assistant cashier.

LIBERTY - Randy Salyers has had the time of his life coaching Casey County basketball, but he says now it's time for him to think about doing something else with the rest of his life. Salyers has announced that the 2013-14 season will be his last with the Casey girls, ending a career of nearly two decades in which he has become the winningest boys or girls coach in school history and one of the most successful girls coaches in the 12th Region. He told his players of his plans in a team meeting Thursday, and he said Friday that there are other things he wants to do once he is eligible to retire from teaching in July 2014, when he turns 55. “There are some other things that I would like to pursue,” Salyers said.

LANCASTER - After 61 years in the ministry, Morris Trayner is retiring as pastor of Gilbert's Creek Baptist Church in Lancaster, where he served for 23 years. Trayner, who began his ministry in 1952, preaching his first sermon at Bruner's Chapel Baptist Chuch in Harrodsburg, will be honored at a service Sunday at Gilbert's Creek. It will be his last service as pastor of the church. “I've enjoyed my time,” Trayner said. Over the course of his ministry, Trayner said he's  performed 101 wedding ceremonies and served as pastor of five churches besides Gilbert's Creek; Ellers Chapel Baptist in Harrodsburg, Immanuel Baptist in Danville, Pleasant Ridge Baptist in Owenton and Calvary Hill Baptist in Stanford.

The director of Jessamine County's adult-education program is retiring 23 years after she brought the program into being. Janice Crane has submitted her resignation to the Jessamine County Board of Education; her contract will end June 30. The 63-year-old said her decision came from having a tough year with some personal loss and from looking ahead to big changes necessary to adapt to a new GED test. “There are some new changes coming down the pike, and it's going to take somebody with a little more energy than I have to put into it right now to meet those challenges,” Crane said.

For more than 40 years, many in Wilmore who felt a little sick, needed to have their blood pressure or sugar checked, or maybe just needed an understanding ear have known just where to go. Right on Main Street, just a few doors down from City Hall, they could walk in Phyllis Corbitt's office and take a step back in time. There, a single receptionist greets patients. They wait in a room with a dozen or so chairs, where a few books are laid out. There is no TV to watch, and, though there may be one or even two in the office, there isn't a computer in sight.

After 29 years as an educator, Hogsett Elementary School Principal Rebecca Doolin will retire in September. However, she said retiring from Hogsett simply means she will always remain part of the school. “I'm pretty confident that I'll still be welcomed back as part of the Hogsett family even after I retire. We're a very close staff,” Doolin said. She said it's not uncommon to see others who have retired from the school returning to volunteer or participate in the potluck dinners the faculty and staff sometimes hold.

After spending 30 years practicing as a pediatrician, Dr. Russ Goodwin retired from Danville Pediatrics about six years ago. “My wife retired. I figured, if she was retired, I should be able to retire, too,” he said with a smile. However, Goodwin didn't stay still for long. For starters, he and his wife participate in 5K runs, although Goodwin said he mostly goes “along in sympathy,” walking while his wife runs. “I try to keep up and keep active,” he said. He also began working with Habitat for Humanity, which he said keeps him and the others in the group busy on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, when the weather is nicer.

STANFORD - The director of the First Southern Community Arts Center intends to step down by the end of April, but members of Stanford City Council are reluctant to see him go. Bob Swett, who began in his position as arts center director in 2011, submitted a letter to Stanford Mayor Bill Miracle on Jan. 23 explaining his intentions to leave by May 1. “At this time, I have lots of family health issues and other family situations that need attention...

STANFORD - The director of the First Southern Community Arts Center intends to step down by the end of April, but members of Stanford City Council are reluctant to see him go. Bob Swett, who began in his position as arts center director in 2011, submitted a letter to Stanford Mayor Bill Miracle Jan. 23 explaining his intentions to leave by May 1. "At this time, I have lots of family health issues and other family situations that need attention and...