“My father told me when I was young, ‘Whatever you do when you teach, make friends with the maintenance staff first and foremost; they are invaluable’,” he said. Mr. Ware is excited to be painting these portraits of people he describes as a “particularly great group of guys.”

Mr. Ware said that he was originally inspired for this project by Writer-In-Residence Ron Smith who mentioned he should put work in the Luck Leadership Center gallery. But, more importantly, he was influenced by the cancer diagnosis of the late maintenance worker Casey Jones who passed away last summer. Mr. Ware mentioned that around this time, he had first thought that it could be “really interesting to have those guys’ portraits up in the gallery.”

Mr. Ware is happy to give a meaningful tribute to the men who work behind the scenes at St. Christopher’s. He expects the portraits to be finished and hanging in the Luck Leadership Center gallery early in the 2014-2015 school year and hopes to have about 12 portraits finished.

Reprinted from the February 2014 issue of The Pine Needle. By: Alex Shedd '15