‘She is Brookstone.’ Secretary known as ‘Ma’ retires after 48 years at Columbus school.
Talk to folks at Brookstone School about Marie Clepper, and you quickly realize they miss her not only because she worked there longer than anybody.
In addition to the quantity, it’s the quality of her 48 years at the 69-year-old Columbus private school that’s made her so beloved.
Clepper, who retired this summer, started her career at Brookstone in 1973 as a teacher’s aide and became upper school secretary in 1984.
“This place is her,” Jacob Crowder, the student counseling director and a psychology teacher, told the Ledger-Enquirer. “She is Brookstone.”
The Class of 2012 dedicated the yearbook to her. That year, she also became the only Timothy Baldwin Tarpley Award recipient who wasn’t a faculty member. Voted by the senior class, the award is given annually to someone who has “shown extraordinary personal commitment to Brookstone School and its students.”
For a senior prank one year, students placed cups full of water all over campus, inhibiting the regular walking routes. But they left a clear path for Clepper from the front door to her desk, with a sign that declared it was reserved for only her.
And while the campus was closed during the spring due to the coronavirus pandemic, a group from Brookstone surprised Clepper with a drive-by birthday parade, including a police escort, to her home.
“She deserves it,” Garry Sullivan, head of Brookstone’s upper and middle schools, said. “She’s done such an incredible job.”
Asked why she retired, Clepper laughed as she said, “I’m 88 years old. It’s time.”
Concerns about her back pain and the risk of contracting COVID-19 also contributed to the decision, she said, but it still was tough.
“I enjoyed it,” she said. “I love the people. I love the school.”
Sullivan, in this third year at Brookstone, credits Clepper for helping him adjust.
“I’m just so blessed to have had her for the first two years of my tenure here,” he said. “She really made my transition here much easier.”
Sullivan saw that blessing spread across the campus.
“Students and parents have a level of comfort going to her with any issues they may have as well,” he said.
No wonder they call her “Ma Clepper” at Brookstone.
Just ask senior Laurie Clare Jones, whose parents graduated from Brookstone. She appreciated the compassion Clepper showed when she was late to school.
“She was really generous with the absences and explaining to teachers,” Jones told the L-E. “… She was like, ‘Oh, it’s OK. No worries. We all have bad mornings.’”
Crowder, who has worked at Brookstone since 2001, put that sweet and refreshing impact in perspective — beyond the mints Clepper kept handy for office visitors.
“It means a lot to have a safe and trusted adult that you know always has your best interest at heart,” he said. “… We really talk a lot about relationships at Brookstone, and we really talk about the family environment, and she really epitomizes that.”
