Marilyn Hampton, known to everyone in Aubrey ISD as“Miss Marilyn,”spent 39 years keeping the district’s schools running. Officially she was a custodian, but ask any student and they’ll tell you she was so much more: the person who bought school supplies when kids went without, who helped them study, who ran the football ticket booth and remembered faces long after graduation. This week, the school board returned the favor by revealing that a new K-5 campus will be called Marilyn Hampton Elementary School, complete with a red carpet she unrolled herself at the meeting.
The news broke her open in the best way.“My goodness what an honor,”she said, tears and all.“It’s an honor that I never thought in my lifetime I would have seen.”At 76, Hampton never attended college and admitted she had sometimes felt like a failure for it. Her career says otherwise. She still works with infants and toddlers at the district’s Early Bird Learning Center, because she simply never stopped caring for the kids in her community.
The moment echoes a similar decision in Missouri, where a district named a school after longtime custodian Claudene Wilson in late 2024. It’s a quiet shift: recognizing the everyday heroes who shape a school from the ground floor up. So tell us, who’s the staff member from your school days who truly deserves a building in their honor?
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.