ELLSWORTH — Bob Maddocks will end his 45-year career in education where it started — within the Ellsworth school system.

The longtime director of Ellsworth Adult Education plans to retire in mid-February.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” said Maddocks. “I’ve met a lot of interesting people; had a lot of great students.”

Times have changed since the Ellsworth native started his teaching career after graduating from the University of Maine at Machias. Technically, the Ellsworth school system no longer exists. The city is now part of Regional School Unit 24. The Gen. Bryant E. Moore School, where Maddocks took his first job as a sixth grade teacher, is now closed.

He has seen superintendents come and go and scores of students do the same.

After teaching sixth grade, Maddocks went on to teach the seventh and eighth grades. He started teaching a few adult education classes in the 1970s and later became the program’s part-time director. He was hired as full-time administrator in July 1985.

“I thought that it’d be a great change, a new opportunity,” Maddocks said.

For more education news, pick up a copy of The Ellsworth American.

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