Spring Break
Amen, brother!
Ezell Agnew, last of the college's original employees, to retire
Brian Coburn
Issue date: 5/11/09 Section: Kaleidoscope
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"People walk by and they say 'What in the world is with that man?'" Agnew jokingly said before breaking into hysterical laughter. ". . . I do it to share the love, but sometimes when you have that love, people look at it as a weakness spot."
Agnew, 71, makes it clear that he "hates" having to leave WCC, and although he acknowledges that the choice to retire is his, he said the pressure of dealing with forces on campus that strangely dislike him led him there.
When he speaks of why he's been here so long and never made more than $19 an hour while he saw others get raises, it's not with bitterness, but curiosity. Although he didn't want to hurt anyone by naming names, he feels it's obvious a "clique" of staffers don't appreciate him for reasons he's not quite sure of.
Nevertheless, he's felt the love from the vast majority of people at WCC, saying he's heard great things from all three presidents he has worked under as well as frequently being showered with gifts from affectionate students and faculty - most of which he feels he has to turn down.
"They make me feel like I am somebody," he said.
Agnew beams with pride at the fact that he's been able to watch WCC grow up from a fledgling, one building college struggling for survival in its early years to the broad, thriving campus he marvels at today from under his trademark beanie cap. Not only is it a place that gave him a job as a custodian, but one he helped make a reality in 1965 when he first exercised his right to vote and like the rest of Washtenaw County, said yes to the creation of a community college.
A vote to help 'people like me'
In his native Alabama, which he had just moved from in the previous year because construction work paid more than $3 here compared to $1.50 there, blacks often suffered from disenfranchisement at the polls. In Michigan, Agnew could vote and it would mean something, and it was right around the time WCC was on the ballot.
"There was a black man who said to me, 'Come out to vote. I'll tell you what to vote for,'" Agnew recalls. "He told me to vote for this place because it was going to be here to help people like me.
"And it has."
Agnew never received more than a seventh-grade education in Alabama.
He's virtually done it all in terms of maintenance during his time at WCC, but Agnew's passion seems to lie with the flowers he plants on the concourse in front of the Student Center. Although the college has funded it recently, there was a time when Agnew paid for his flower projects out of his own pocket just to help beautify the campus.
According to Agnew, college president Larry Whitworth is a big fan of his work, telling him he had never seen the campus more beautiful than two years ago when the tulips Agnew planted first bloomed.
"Ezell brightened our campus with his flowers and his warm and cheerful smile and greeting. Ezell will be missed," Whitworth said.
His work, longevity and quirks aside, most will probably agree Agnew's greatest legacy at WCC will be the smiles he left on all the faces of passers by. Deeply religious, Agnew's non-secular shout-outs are generally seen as inclusive and positive, never fire-and-brimstone. And cheerfully saying "I see ya now" to long faces has served as a pick-me-up to a countless number of students.
"You can't be mad around that guy," said student J.T. Conway, 20, of Belleville. "When you go up to talk to him he always wants to talk to you. We call him the Energizer Bunny."
'A light among people'
What's next for Agnew isn't totally clear, but he has no intentions of a quiet retirement. Typically humble when speaking about himself, he acknowledges a bit of pride when it comes to his obvious encouragement skills.
"I'm looking forward to other things. I don't know what God has in store for me, but I know He has spoken to me to do other things," he said. "I love helping people. I love encouraging people. And I love to be a light among people.
"I can do a wonderful job. Around here, I encouraged many students who can't help themselves. I gotta be an instrument around the students. That's why they love me like they do.
. . . Whatever may happen, I hope it happens for the good."
In the meantime, it's easy for Agnew to get nostalgic. He pauses to take long looks around the campus with a wistful look in his eye, remembering when he walked through a cornfield to start his job.
He just loves to work, he said. The place he will miss working at so much has turned into every bit the learning center it promised to be when he cast his first vote to make it a reality - although Agnew believes academia should never take precedent over genuineness.
"I'm not book-wise the way other people are. I'm spiritual-wise," he said. "Too many people get education, but they get it the wrong way - they get it to play people and (learn) how to use people. You can get all the education you want, but you still gotta know how to work and how to love people."
And we can all say "Amen" to that.
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