Photo by Kelli S. Hewett.
Custodian Patrick Mack of Crestline Elementary
Custodian Patrick Mack of Crestline Elementary has served at the school for about nine years and is their longest-serving custodian currently on staff. One of his favorite changes over the last decade is the addition of the ride-on floor scrubber, which sweeps and cleans, saving his team time and energy.
Before most people at Crestline Elementary knew him as a custodian in the classrooms and hallways, Patrick Mack had already been a Detroit cab driver, a valve manufacturer, a graphic artist, a prep cook in a Cajun and Creole restaurant and an assistant to a French pastry chef.
At home in Hueytown, he now loves cooking rich fettuccine from scratch, experiments with red beans and rice using the classic pepper‑onion‑celery trinity, tackles home‑improvement projects and shares a deeply rooted, 37‑year marriage with his wife, April.
“I have done a lot of different things, but I think what has always been important for me has been my love for God, my wife and my family,” he said.
At school, he is “Mr. Mack,” a steady presence who helps the maintenance team keep the building running.
“I’d rather just do what I do in the shadows, making sure everything’s fine,” he said.
Mack has been a custodian for 10 years, the first year at an insurance office and the last nine at Crestline. The move from graphic artist to custodian came after his publishing company was sold. Between jobs, he searched for something simpler and more stable for his family.
In the early days of his first year at Crestline, one of his main concerns was simply keeping his 6‑foot‑3 frame from stepping on any of the little people. Then a second grade teacher issued an unusual challenge: learn all of her students’ names in a week.
“Right there, that is where the fun began working here,” he said with a chuckle. “Since then, I have tried to learn as many names as I could.”
As part of an eight-member team, he arrives at 8 a.m. and starts his day with the basics in his section: stairwells, bathrooms and the yard picking up papers. Later comes the lunchroom and the auditorium, including frequent setups for meetings and presentations.
Along the way there are hellos and high-fives from the kids, as well as his favorite lunch days of cafeteria chicken wings.
What’s the most satisfying of his duties? Deep cleaning the floors.
“A waxed floor has a wet, glasslike appearance, like it is still wet, but it is not,” he said with an appreciative smile.
Mack believes successful custodial work begins with humility, an outlook grounded in his faith as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
“As a custodian, I am here to help the teachers, the students, the principal, the building,” he said. “I am here to help make sure that those who come and do what they do can do it.
“It is caring about others and recognizing they have needs,” Mack continued. “I love doing things [where] you do not see me doing it. It is just helping where I can help.”
