Cindy Bickford is retiring after 20 years of working as a secretary in the Freshman Academy at Edmond Memorial High School. Although she is sad to leave Memorial, she has come up with an idea to shed light on her departure. Every day this semester Bickford has worn a different Memorial themed t-shirt to school and posted it on social media.

Bickford has managed to amass a large amount of Bulldog t-shirts during her career at Memorial that support many of the teams, clubs and other organizations in the school.

“Since I’m retiring at the end of the first semester, I went and looked through all of my Bulldog t-shirts I’ve received and realized that I had managed to collect over 70 of them,” Bickford said.

Additionally, she decided to give away some of the t-shirts that she has featured on her Facebook page to people who viewed her post and liked the shirt.

“I like to give away the shirts that I post on my page. All they have to do is contact me and say they like the shirt, and I’m happy to give it to them,” Bickford said.

She also likes to wear Bulldog t-shirts for school spirit. She hopes that students who participate in activities, clubs and sports will see her wearing t-shirts that support them and will be confident knowing that Memorial is rooting for them.

“I think that the students love to see me and other members of the staff wearing t-shirts that support them and their team or club and know that we support them, we’re behind them, and we want them to do their best,” Bickford said. 

Retiring from Memorial is a big change for Bickford because she has spent so many years working in the school. Although she is looking forward to her life after retirement, she is also met with a whirlwind of emotions, both happy and sad, as she departs from her beloved co-workers and students.

“I begin to get teary when I think about leaving. I’ve been so blessed to work with the most amazing people here at Memorial,” Bickford said “I’m also going to miss the office aides and students most of all. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know them and hearing about what they want to do in the future.” 

Although Bickford will be missed, Memorial will always look back on fond memories, such as her fun t-shirt antics and be reminded about how great she was during her time at the school.

Contact Jamison Joyce at [email protected]