'Mean Jean' bids farewell to Gardnerville Elementary

Eighty-two-year-old "Mean Jean" Homer turned in her employee badge Tuesday morning at the front office of Gardnerville Elementary School.

After 27 years of working as the school's playground aide, Homer is hanging up the whistle, so to speak. But don't let her nickname fool you. Mean Jean is anything but mean.

"It's an oxymoron," said GES teacher Meredith Swanson-Jessup, who worked with Homer for 20 years. "She's the sweetest, kindest person I've ever met. She will be missed."

GES aide Beth Smith brought a bouquet of flowers for her departing friend.

"She taught the kids that it's not what you're called that matters, but who you are," Smith said.

Escorted inside the school's multipurpose room by daughter Julie Ramm, Homer found the entire student body wishing her well in her retirement. She received a certificate of appreciation, a student-signed banner, and a leather watch as going-away gifts, plus the hearty applause of the students.

Ramm, one of Homers' 11 children, said she's called her mother "Mean Jean" her entire life.

"Everyone in my family always had a silly nickname," she said. "It means the opposite, though."

GES Principal Shannon Brown said Homer was one of the first employees he was introduced to at the school.

"I learned she was anything but mean," he said.

"I'm sad she wasn't able to walk the playground this year. Every time she stops in, she says she misses the kids. I know it was one of the hardest decisions for her to make."

Homer said she enjoys the work so much that she would stay if it weren't for her age.

"Actually, I'm not old. I'm just mature," she said with a smile. "It's terrible, horrible, awful to leave. I love it here; I've so enjoyed it. I always tell the kids that if you love your job, then you never work a day in your life. That's how the staff here has made me feel everyday."

With all her free time, Homer said she's doing "not a darn thing."

"I'll watch TV, I'll get up and make some coffee, but I'd rather be at work," she said.

When asked if she'd visit regularly, Homer said, "Darn right, I'm going to visit."

She may just bring some of her famous baked treats, too.