Andrea Fox

"The Kindest, Most Gentle, Most Caring Person I Have Ever Known"

Spend just a few minutes with Custodian Andrea Fox, and you can't help but be moved by how much she cares about Breck: both the school and the people in it. Ask her about herself, and the conversation almost always gets steered back to stories about students, teachers, parents and alumni she has come to know in her thirteen years on the second shift at Breck.

"I love watching the kids here," she says simply. "They have so many opportunities to learn and explore ahead of them. Some of them who are now alumni are going to do great things, I just know it."

As for their parents, Andrea talks about a few who have been particularly kind to her and then recalls that the most common interaction she has with parents is when they appear at school desperate to find something their students left behind during the day. "They always say, 'You saved my life!' " she smiles. "It's kind of funny because I used to be a nurse where I really was saving lives. This is just a new twist!"

She’s equally connected to members of the faculty and staff. For example, “Rick Miller and Evan Jones could be my brothers," she laughs. “I’d adopt them into my family in a second!"

And then there are the classroom pets. Doing most of her work in the evening, Andrea gets the chance to care for and interacts with creatures such as the late iguana of room 10 (who surprised her by darting into the classroom when she entered one night), Virginia Amundson’s numerous companions, Karen Pape’s class’ Smokey the rabbit, and Oreo, the Lower School hamster who kept climbing out of his cage. “Oreo used to come out and dance for me at night," she says. “They used to put dictionaries on top of his cage, but he’d still find a way to escape. I remember one night just before Christmas when he got stuck in the air ducts in the sub-basement. Three men who were there cleaning found him, slightly mauled, and brought him to me. It was like the three wise men bringing a gift—a miracle, really. The kids were so excited to see him again!"

Although she’s here after hours, Andrea’s compassion doesn’t go completely unnoticed.

"Andrea is a unique blend of caring, intelligence, thoughtfulness and sense of humor," says Custodial Supervisor Walter Walker. “She cares for those she has contact with including her fellow evening crew members, students and their families, teachers and others she works with. She gives exquisite care for all the things great and small that come under her sphere of influence."

Middle School teacher Byron Rice puts it this way: “She’s the most patient person I know—always willing to stop what she’s doing to help you with whatever you need."

As fitting a workplace as Breck is for Andrea, it was originally meant to be a brief step on her road to getting her life back in order after a series of unfortunate events. She graduated from the nursing program at St. Mary’s in Minneapolis and worked for many years in the burn unit at Ramsey Hospital. She left to care for her invalid mother and suffered some other personal setbacks, including the death of her cherished canine companion Muffin. Once she came to Breck, however, Andrea says she realized how fortunate she was to be “alive and breathing with new doors to be opened. Life is so precious. And now here I am surrounded by kids, knowledge, books, animals—all the things I love."

When she’s away from Breck, Andrea enjoys reading (“I’ve spent a fortune at Breck book fairs over the years," she says), attending plays at the Ordway Music Center and making friends wherever she goes. The day we spoke, she recalled a “delightful conversation" she’d had with someone she’d met on the bus to work—a blind law student. True to form, she switched the conversation away from herself to express her admiration for the man’s determination in spite of adversity.

It’s a theme that resonates with the people at Breck who know Andrea as well. Says Middle School teacher Rick Miller, “Andrea is so caring, kind and considerate. She listens so well and is a great sounding board. I know she avoids being in the spotlight, but she does so much for all of us. It’s funny. I actually look forward to the end of the day—not because I’m going home but because I know I’m going to see Andrea. I just wish the kids could see her more, too."