“It’s not work if you love what you do.” There is no more fitting statement to describe the way Wayne Adcock felt about his job as an educator, and members of the community and Vance County Schools school had a chance to remember the lifelong educator, former superintendent, mentor and friend at a special ceremony Monday at the Center for Innovation.
Vance County Schools named the auditorium for Adcock, who died in November 2020. His wife, Susan, and son John were in attendance at the ribbon-cutting and dedication. She reflected on the morning’s celebration in a telephone interview with John C. Rose.
“It was wonderful,” she said. “It was a very emotional day, but we were so humbled by the school board wanting to do that,” she said of the naming ceremony.
Adcock was so complimentary of the work that Superintendent Dr. Cindy Bennett and the school staff undertook to make the day a reality.
“We enjoyed hearing people remembering Wayne,” she said. A recurring theme throughout the remarks made on Monday included how much her husband loved working for Vance County Schools and with students. And, my, how he loved that building that now houses the Center for Innovation. He served as principal at the Charles Street campus when it was Henderson Middle School. “He was principal there 10 years,” she said. “He loved that building – he would always say it was the prettiest building in Vance County.”
But whether it was at Henderson Middle School or Northern Vance High School, Adcock said her husband genuinely loved what he did.
“He felt like he was the lucky one that got to (work) with the students,” she recalled. “He thought he was the fortunate one to get to do it.”
Several speakers gave remarks at the ribbon-cutting, and then the microphone was opened up for others to share their memories. Her son, John, offered remarks on behalf of the family.
Her husband made lifelong friends working for Vance County Schools, but it was the students that he dearly loved hearing from after they’d graduated and become successful in life.
He enjoyed his time interacting with the older high school students because he could hopefully give them advice that would “guide them in the right direction.”
David Cooper and David Westbrook are former students who now work in the field of education. Westbrook talked about advice that Adcock had given him when he was in high school “when he wasn’t always doing what he was supposed to do,” Mrs. Adcock recalled. “(Wayne) was always tickled when he’d call and seek advice,” she said.
Cooper talked about the encouragement Adcock offered him through the years.
School board chair Ruth Hartness shared the strong relationships that Adcock established with students and the guidance that he was so good at providing.
“Wayne valued education so much,” she said. He felt that it was one thing that could lift people out of poverty. He was awarded a scholarship to attend UNC-Chapel Hill, and he realized how fortunate he was to be able to continue his education.
When he’d bump in to former students or get updates on what they were doing, “he would be so happy that they’d gotten an education and were doing so well.”