William Eberhart, better known around Oglethorpe County as Will, said he comes from a family of committed workers.
His mother worked at St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens for nearly 47 years, and his sister worked at Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center for nearly 40 years, so it’s no surprise that Eberhart put in a long career.
For 45 years, Eberhart has maintained the county and schools, only missing four days in his entire career.
And, he said he’s enjoyed every minute of it.
“I love doing it alone,” Eberhart said. “I love doing the work myself. You don’t have to worry about ‘He said, she said.’”
Eberhart is retiring from Oglethorpe County on Saturday, and will focus on his own lawn care and emergency maintenance side-business.
Eberhart, born in 1962, grew up in the county and attended Oglethorpe County High School. After several months working for an insulation company, he returned to the Oglethorpe County School District, where he began a wide range of jobs.
For 37 years, he drove buses, worked in the kitchen and lunchroom, maintained school grounds and even substitute taught. He also helped run programs during the summers that gave kids experience in groundskeeping and beautification around the county.
In the years that he’s been working for the Oglethorpe County government, he has done everything from cutting all of the publicly-owned grass in the county, to dumping all the dumpsters, to burying roadkill, to maintaining roads, signs and bridges.
“I just love outside,” Eberhart said. “It’s something different every day.”
He said he picked up all of these skills from the three L’s: look, listen and learn.
Eberhart said he’s thankful for the support that friends, family and the people of Oglethorpe County have given him over the nearly five decades of work.
“He obviously plays a great role,” Board of Commission Chairman Jay Paul said. “Anything you ask Will to do, he will.”
Paul said replacing Eberhart is a “work in progress.”