Elizabeth Stark has played many roles during her affiliation with St. Paul School, Burlington: first, as a student, then, as mother to three graduates, now as grandmother to a three-year-old in the pre-school class. But it is in her present role as the school’s secretary for 27 years that she serves as the Catholic school’s “face of Christ” and an indispensable treasure to its faculty, staff and students.

“It’s a joy to come to work,” Stark declared. “I appreciate that. Other than the pre-school class, I am often the last one out of the building at 5 or 5:30 p.m.” As for the tasks that fill her to-do list on an average school day, Stark is quick to respond that there is no such thing as an average school day.

“You never know what skill you will need,” she said. “You are dealing with a person sometimes who comes in who just heard about a death, and on the other hand you have someone else screaming for lunch menus. Even if you are dealing with something at home, you have to take a breath and help others. I’m like Scarlett O’Hara: I think ‘tomorrow’s another day.’”

“You have mom thoughts,” Stark, the mother of five grown children, continued. “It’s like I’m everyone’s mom. Sometimes it is more taking care of the parents than taking care of the kids. Sometimes you are raising the parents.”

Stark once worked as a dispatcher for a national moving van company, “and now I’m a dispatcher of people,” she laughed. A prime example of her cool head while others might panic is a fateful day about seven years ago when then-principal, Mercy Sister Mary Peter Damian Mitchell, suffered a medical emergency. Stark “called 9-1-1 and assisted with the CPR,” she said matter-of-factly.

St. Paul School principal, William J. Robbins, recalled another school emergency that Stark took in stride.

“One day last year, I was out of the building for a meeting,” he said. “The building filled with smoke due to some electrical problem. She gathered up the kids, got them out of the building...then called me. I always say, we can run the building without me, but not without her.”

Robbins was ebullient in his praise of Stark’s daily juggling act and ministry to young and old alike.

“She’s the best, she does everything. It’s amazing, the phones are going all day, she handles the [security system] and everyone else wants supplies. She acts as a nurse when the nurse is not here and she is never sitting still,” he explained. “When she’s not here, we should close down.”

Stark, too, serves as the face of Christ to all she serves, he maintained.

“She is delightful, fun and upbeat. When there are faculty meetings or staff development days, she cooks her homemade soup. It’s so homey, she goes way above and beyond.”