A Texas school district named its new elementary school after Marilyn Hampton, its custodian for 39 years

Aubrey Independent School District, north of Dallas, is naming its next elementary school after Marilyn Hampton, who spent 39 years as one of its custodians, WFAA reported. The school, known until now only as Elementary School Number Five, will open next August as Marilyn Hampton Elementary.

The district told her at a school board meeting on Wednesday, 21 October. Officials asked her to roll out a red carpet, the kind of job she had done many times at work, and it took her several seconds to see what the carpet was for.

“Oh my goodness. Oh, God. You all are the best.”Marilyn Hampton

More than cleaning

Superintendent Shannon Saylor said Hampton did a good deal more than custodial work. She bought school supplies and delivered them, and she helped students study for their tests. “She is truly Aubrey ISD,” Saylor said.

Hampton is one of eight children and the only one of them to finish high school. She said she used to think of herself as a failure for not going to college. “I just thought, ‘You know, Marilyn? God put you where you are supposed to be.’ And I’m very happy with the way things turned out,” she said.

Now

She retired in 2022, and she is 76. These days she sits in a rocking chair at the district’s Early Bird Learning Center, feeding a little girl named Claire. “She’s a sweetheart. She’s got pretty eyes,” Hampton said.

The district gave her a Marilyn Hampton Elementary shirt. “I still can’t believe it. I haven’t stopped crying,” she said.