Longtime custodial employee proud & thankful for AEDC career

  • Published
  • By Shawn Jacobs
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  When employees at Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) report to work each morning, most arrive to find their offices and hallways clean, restrooms and water fountains sanitary and buildings ready to support the work at the most advanced complex of flight simulation test facilities in the world.

What many employees may take for granted is Debbie Taylor's mission, a job the custodian has been doing for 32 of her 34 years at AEDC. She worked her first two years at the Green Fly lunch wagon that traveled the base and then moved over to custodial operations. While her job may not seem very glamorous by some people's standards, few would doubt that it's essential, and Taylor is proud of the contribution she makes to the center.

"It's provided a good living for me," she said. "A lot of people say, 'How can you stand to be on the job that long - that many years?' But it's been a good living, and I'm proud of it.

"I do the general cleaning - what we all [custodians] do - restrooms, trash, vacuuming dust mopping. I'm in six different buildings every day."

Taylor's day lasts from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and begins at the Administration and Engineering (A&E) Building.

"Thursday is trash day," she said. "I think night shift gets most of the garbage over here [A&E], but I get all the secured areas that are locked up. When I leave here [A&E], I go to building 1088 [Space and Missile Ground Test Complex], then Warehouse VI, the ODC center [Ozone Depletion Center], 903 [Engine Test Facility-C Exhauster Building] and part of ASTF [Aeropropulsion Systems Test Facility]."

Taylor said the best part of her job is meeting people because she's a "people person."

"It's like one big happy family," she said. "I've had some good times out here, and I've enjoyed my job.

"You really get close to some of them [the people]. I've seen a lot of them come and go. A week or so ago we looked back and were counting up how many had passed away who I had worked with. It's sort of sad, and all my supervisors back these 30-some years - I think only two of them are living now. I've seen a lot of changes."

One of the changes involves the contractors for whom Taylor has worked over the years, which is quite a few. She currently is employed by Premiere Building Maintenance, a subcontractor for Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA), the operating contractor at AEDC. Premiere performs custodial and refuse services at the center.

Taylor, who lives in Winchester with her husband, Troy, is also involved in a variety of community activities, including her church, the White Oak Grove Church of God, near Decherd. She assists her sister in teaching the primary class and is also secretary of the ladies' Willing Worker Team.

"It's a ladies ministry; we say it's [for] whoever's willing to work," she said. "We have monthly meetings. All the ladies get together and do things. We've got seven widows in our church, so we went out [in December] and bought them gifts and fixed up food baskets.

"We work in the Bible School; we have it every year. We have senior trips, too, that go like for three days up on Signal Mountain. We have a lot of fun there for senior people, 55 and up."

Taylor is also a cancer survivor, so she volunteers with the American Cancer Society (ACS), including the Relay for Life fundraiser held each year in Winchester. Her church also participates in that event.

She follows her husband some in his favorite hobby: driving 5/8-scale race cars.

"He calls them 'dwarf' cars, the smaller cars," she said. "They go to Huntsville and Nashville a lot. He really loves the car racing. I go with him some but not all the time."

Troy Taylor is retired from American Can in Shelbyville but operates a tire shop there part time.

While Debbie doesn't have children, family is still very important to her. She is very close to two nieces and visits her mother every Sunday and takes her to church.

For Debbie Taylor, it's a life well-lived.

"I'm just proud and thankful for my job," she said. "I put God first. I've been through a lot, and I've made it through. I'm just thankful for everything.