With more than 40 years of service between them, Dr. Cynthia Livingston and Lt. Col. Dave Worley say goodbye.
By Mary O’KEEFE and Charly SHELTON
No presumption needed. When one mentions Dr. Livingston in the Crescenta Valley community, all know who she is. Volunteer, parent, principal and all-around caring and involved community member, Dr. Cynthia Livingston can be found at just about any event that concerns the youth of the community, whether to help out or just to support. But after 28 years with the Glendale Unified School District, she announced her retirement.

Not wanting to put a damper on the students’ promotion and end-of-year celebrations on June 1, she waited until the end-of-year staff meeting on June 2 to announce that this was her last year as principal at Rosemont Middle School.

Dr. Livingston entered Glendale Unified School District as a fourth grade teacher at Balboa Elementary. She then moved on to become a teacher specialist at Marshall Elementary, an assistant principal at Mark Keppel Elementary and then principal at Fremont Elementary for 13 years before taking on her current role as principal of Rosemont Middle School for the last seven years. This, of course, is in addition to her own son, Taylor, being a GUSD student.

“I live up the street from Rosemont. I was a Rosemont mom starting in 2001,” Dr. Livingston said.

She has touched the lives of students, parents, colleagues and community members alike, and her impact is reflected in what is said about her.

“Cynthia is truly a unique person with an awesome personality. She cares for her staff and students as she would for her family. We are a family at Rosemont because of Cynthia,” said Assunta Capra, attendance clerk at Rosemont. “She will be very much missed at Rosemont. We are not only losing a principal but our best friend.”

“Cynthia is a true community member. She lives in and loves the Crescenta Valley. And her heart is with our children. She, of course, was my principal for seven years,” said Susan Stefun, attendance clerk at Rosemont.

“Cynthia has been my boss and mentor for 18 years,” said Dr. Livingston’s longtime secretary, Margie Fester. “I have always been so proud to be part of her team as she always made decisions based on what was the right thing to do, even when it was not the easy thing to do. She has been an amazing administrator and has made a positive impact in the lives of countless kids in our community. I will miss her dearly.”

Dr. Livingston’s departure has shocked and saddened the Crescenta Valley community and those who have worked closely with her over the years. But in retrospect, Dr. Livingston herself has had a great time at Rosemont and in the GUSD overall.

“Leaving, you miss the people; I’ll always miss the kids. You wake up in the morning and you give your heart to kids. I always wanted to make sure someone saw them – reached out to them with a warm smile, I wanted to say ‘hello,’ give them a fist bump,” Dr. Livingston said. “It’s really been an enormous joy to work here in Glendale.”

CV High School is also saying goodbye to longtime staff and teachers. Among them is Lt. Col. Dave Worley, most well- known for his involvement with the JROTC program, which many say he saved.

It was 42 years ago on June 5 that Dave Worley walked into the United States Air Force recruiter’s office and joined up to be an air traffic controller. He did not plan on making the Air Force a career but was going to serve his eight years and get out as an air traffic controller and go into the private sector to “make the big bucks.”  Luckily for the country, the Crescenta Valley community and, especially the CV High School students, things did not go as planned.

He had just missed the Vietnam draft so when he went home to tell his mother he had enlisted the news was not received with open arms.

“She was not a happy camper,” Worley said.

Lt. Col. Dave Worley, present rank, retired from the Air Force after 27 years and went immediately to serve as the aerospace science instructor and mentor for the JROTC program at Crescenta Valley High School. This is a job appointed by the U.S. Air Force.

“[He] saved the JROTC program at CV,” said Principal Linda Junge.

She praised Worley for his service to the school and to the students, and remarked on his dedication. She shared a story about the day she was driving to lunch and received a call from Worley who told her he was okay.  He had been at the school earlier, just like every morning, but had felt something was wrong. He went directly to the hospital and discovered that he had a heart issue and was being treated. After calling his wife Gail, he then called Junge. She was amazed but not surprised at his dedication.

“I didn’t want her to hear it from someone else,” Worley said. “I didn’t want her to get a memo.”

It was this health scare, along with seeming that it was “just the right time,” that helped him decide it was time to retire from the CVHS JROTC program after 14 years. It was time for him to take some time off and, in the words of his son, time to embark on a new adventure as a grandpa.

On Friday, the American Legion Post 288 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1614 hosted a retirement recognition dinner for Worley.

There were speakers who bridged his life from those days at the high school to his military career and his community service.

Bob Donovan of Operation Gratitude thanked Worley for supporting their organization and said he observed how he and his cadets interacted and could tell why the program at CVHS was successful.

“[Worley] talked to the [cadets] with respect,” he said.

Congressman Adam Schiff, who has known Worley for over a decade, praised his work with JROTC and on the Service Academy Advisory panel where he serves as the Air Force representative and helps evaluate candidates for the U.S. Military Service Academies.

“I want to add my personal thanks for his extraordinary dedication for the community as well as my appreciation for the personal assistance he has provided over the years [with the service academies],” Schiff said.

He spoke of Worley giving direction and guidance to those students as they embarked on a military career. He was a role model for them.

“And what better role model could you have than Dave Worley?” Schiff asked.

For his part, Worley was surprised and humbled by the event on Friday and those who spoke about his service. Worley spoke of his love for the community, his appreciation of the respect given by the American Legion and VFW to his cadets and his appreciation of all who took time to come to the event.

But his praise was focused on his family, especially his wife who embodies the phrase “the strength behind the man.” When he would come home frustrated from a day at work and pound the wall, it was Gail’s voice he heard telling him that it would be fine, that they would get through it.

He also praised his cadets.

“The cadets … that is why I am doing this … to watch you grow,” he said to the cadets who were volunteering at the event. “To watch you grow and become young men and women. … I was happy to pick you up when you fell and to make sure you didn’t fall again. I am so proud of you.”

But it was a cadet who summed up the overall effect that Worley had on his community, CVHS, the JROTC program and the students.

“I joined JROTC four years ago … well, to impress a girl who was also joining,” said CVHS senior and JROTC cadet Ryan Kramer. “But then she left and broke my heart. I had the choice of quitting because what is the point or continuing? I decided to continue because this program is amazing. This program changed my life, sir. Sir, you taught me the proper way to live and I cannot thank you enough for that, sir. Thank you, sir.”

  Charly Shelton, Mary Okeefe