77-Year-Old Janitor’s Long-Kept Secret Revealed to the Entire School

Frances Buzzard is the beloved janitor of Belle Elementary School. The hard working 77-year-old woman works hard and connects with all the staff and students at the school.

Frances Buzzard is the 77-year-old janitor at Belle Elementary School. The lively Frances enjoyed her days spent with the children of the school. Despite her age, she kept up with the kids and found fulfillment seeing them in the halls everyday.

Belle Elementary School’s principal found herself digging into Frances’ past. Afterall, it is important that all staff members are thoroughly researched and signed off on.

The principal asked the teachers to gather all 200 elementary school students into the assembly hall. The secrets she had uncovered were not going to stay secret for long!

All the students were gathered in one place and they were uncharacteristically quiet, as if they knew something important was going to unfold.

Unaware of what could be happening, Frances made her way to the assembly hall nervously. She wondered what the reason for the meeting was and why she was singled out on the loudspeaker. 

When she approached the assembly hall door as a bundle of nerves, she realized that the entire school was inside waiting for her. She knew the assembly that was in progress had something to do with her and she feared it had something to do with job performance!

As her thoughts started to race she realized that there would be 200 pairs of little eyes on her as soon as she stepped into the room. This was a fact that did not excite her!

Naturally, the worst case scenario did cross her mind. Was she being fired? This was so out of the blue that she couldn’t help but wonder!

There was only one way to find out the reason behind this whole scene, so she took a deep breath and stepped inside. She braced herself for the worst case scenario.

All of her worries soon melted away entirely when she started to hear the children’s voices singing a familiar song: Happy Birthday! Frances was completely blown away and touched at the effort.

She came to find out that the birthday surprise was all the students’ idea. They decided on their own that they wanted to do something special for their beloved custodian.

When the Principal found out that Frances had never had a birthday party in her life, she knew that she had to immediately rectify the situation. This sweet, hard-working woman deserved a party!

They ordered custom personalized cupcakes and the staff got to work with their students. All of this was kept secret from Frances, of course!

As Frances entered the hall, the kids sang Happy Birthday to her. She was overjoyed and that was only the beginning. The Principal exclaimed, “Surprise! Happy Birthday, Ms. Frances.”

The slideshow was an incredibly creative work of art. It featured photos of important events throughout history such as the moon landing and Woodstock. But what made it unique to Frances?

Frances was so overwhelmed by the surprise and the thoughtfulness that the kids had put into this project that her eyes welled up with tears (happy tears, of course). 

It’s fairly uncommon for someone to never have had a birthday celebration. Apparently, Frances’ family fell on hard times when she was young so her parents couldn’t afford to throw big birthday bashes as they were working.

Although Frances had missed out on big celebrations over the years, she wasn’t the kind of person to complain. She explained that she was grateful for what she did have growing up.

Frances was so beloved by the staff and students. The school counselor explained, “This lady is twice our age, but she does three times the work. She’s something else. Everybody just loves her. You can’t get to stop”. 

The story was so heartwarming that it went viral across the internet. It was televised by the Charleston Gazette-Mail and was quickly shared by thousands of people who were touched by the story.

There were so many wonderful commenters who shared in the excitement and celebration of Ms. Frances. Everyone got in on the birthday celebration!

The birthday surprise sparked inspiration in schools across the country. Similar stories began to pop up all over. People were inspired by the thoughtfulness!

Haze Mabry is the janitor at Pike County Elementary School. Haze is an impressive 80 years old and works day in and day out. He had been with the school for 13 years and loves his job!

According to his staff, he has a special way of making the students feel special, similar to the lovely Ms. Frances. He’s regarded as “the most loved” person at the school. 

When Haze walked into the school on his birthday he was met with more than 800 smiling students chanting his name. He was completely taken aback.

There were so many cards that he couldn’t even hold them all himself! A couple of students had to follow him through the throngs of students with buckets to help him gather them all.

Like the story about Ms. Frances, the internet fell in love with Haze and the wonderful story about his birthday celebration from his students. Photos from the day were shared on the school’s social media page and it took off!

There have since been more stories similar to this one of people finding ways to spread kindness to those who aren’t always appreciated. The ones who bring joy are often the ones who are overlooked.

It really is the little things that matter. Small birthday celebrations like these for the underappreciated staff members made lasting impressions.