by Drue Allison, Lea Youngman, and Maddy Abel
David Coombs, better known as Buddha, has announced that he is retiring after 35 years of working as a custodian. Over the span of his time in Suburban, Buddha has made many lasting memories and has met many interesting people.
Not only has Buddha spent his career at York Suburban, but he attended YSSD as a student as well. As a student, Buddha’s favorite teachers were Mr. Moyer at the middle school who gave him his well-known nickname and Mr. Lau at the high school. “I really enjoyed social studies and doing reports,” he said.
Regarding his singing of the national anthem, Buddha said, “I am retiring from working, but nothing else. I will still be working football, basketball, volleyball, and occasionally swimming.”
He also hopes to return for the Novel-Tea club meetings; however, he feels that there is “just too much teen angst” in the books. Buddha is very into listening to audiobooks and is “really big into Dan Brown. I just listened to the Da Vinci Code. This has to be the fourth or fifth time I’ve read it– I just like that style. Also, I’m listening to the most recent book in the Alex Cross series.”
Buddha graduated in 1982 from York Suburban High School and got the job here shortly thereafte. “I’ve been here since I was five years old. I graduated in 1982. Graduated on a Thursday started working on that next Monday,” he said.
To Buddha, family is extremely important. During his retirement, Buddha plans on making himself a better husband and a father, hoping to spend more time with his wife and daughter.
In his retirement, Buddha is looking forward to “just being a dad” and “going in and volunteering in my daughter’s class for the next three years.” Out of all the memories Buddha has made during his time at Suburban, his favorite is “Nov. 2004 — I started to date my wife, who was friends with another employee of York Suburban.”
Buddha has been a major part of this school community and will be missed. Thankfully, he will be returning to sing at some of the sporting events. We love you Buddha!