Frances Buzzard, a janitor from West Virginia, didn’t expect her little secret to be discovered by the students and staff of the high school where she worked.
But it eventually did. And when the time came, it was a huge surprise for everyone. So much that they had no other option than to do something about it. Something that ended up with Frances parading in front of the school assembly.
This is one of those stories that make you recover faith in humanity. Frances Buzzard could have spent all of her old age unnoticed by anyone in the high school where she worked.
But there are still good people in the world, and some caught up on what she was concealing. And in the end, they chose to do the right thing.
Frances Buzzard had spent years working in that high school. Probably for even longer than the most veteran teachers. Nobody was able to determine for certain when did she start working there.
She had seen whole generations of teachers and students come and go through the school’s classrooms and halls. She had seen a lot, heard a lot, and probably kept many secrets.
She was a lady that seemed to prefer going unnoticed. She went about her business, and not many people knew much about her personal life.
Teachers and students knew she was a widow and a Virginia native, but not much else was known about her. Nobody even knew if she had children or not.
But still, despite her secretive and discrete character, she was very liked by all the staff and students. She was a sweet, kind, understanding lady that was always willing to help.
And she always had a smile on her face. However, hers almost seemed like a strictly polite friendliness due to her highly secretive nature.
Whenever someone dared to ask her about some detail of her personal life, she would elude the question or answer vaguely; it was almost like she didn’t want anyone to know anything about her life.
But one day, that would change. Somehow, someone managed to get some personal information from Frances that had never been revealed before.
It was the History teacher who managed to get that piece of information. And it took him some persistence to get it out of Frances. As everyone knows, this is a very delicate subject for senior women; and something that they are often quite reluctant to reveal.
This piece of information was Frances’ age. After being questioned about it by the History teacher and a little bit of flattering estimation on his part destined to open her up, she had finally revealed it.
Frances was 77 years old. This fact wasn’t shocking to anyone in the high school; everybody more or less assumed that she would be in her 70s.
But that wasn’t the only thing Frances had told the History teacher after the subtle interrogation. There was more. And this bit would catch everyone by surprise.
She also revealed the date of her birthday: it was on the 3rd of June. But there was another fact about her personal life that she had told the History teacher.
She had never had a birthday party in her life. She had grown up during the Great Depression, and her family was really poor. When word got around about this, everyone was moved by it. And they decided to do something about it.
The staff and students decided to set up a surprise party for Frances’ 78th birthday, which was right around the corner and close to the beginning of summer. And finally, the big day came.
Frances was working on her janitorial duties when suddenly something happened. She heard her name called over the school loudspeakers and someone asking her to go to the cafeteria. Frances thought she would have something to take care of there. But she was wrong.
As she entered the cafeteria, she couldn’t believe what she saw. More than 200 students were waiting for her there! They shouted “surprise!” and started singing “Happy Birthday”.
Frances was moved by this gesture from the school students and staff. She couldn’t believe all those people were there celebrating just for her. And it was a very special type of party.
Aside from all the cupcakes, the cake, the presents, and the general atmosphere of joy and celebration, the students had made a little something as a homage to Frances.
There was a big screen in the center of the room showing edited pictures of Frances attending to historical events: she was shown, for example, accompanying Neil Armstrong in the Moon landing or having fun at Woodstock.
It was hilarious to watch. After that, Frances had the chance to express a few gratitude words for everyone. She also spoke about how this was her first birthday party ever, as her parents were too poor to celebrate one growing up.
“I don’t remember any. They didn’t do things like that. We didn’t have Christmas parties either. They would get us fruits and nuts when they could afford it.”
It was a very special day for Frances. For the very first time, she was the center of attention. As a janitor and a discrete person who didn’t like to be noticed, she was used to catering to everyone’s needs.
But today, it was her big day. She deserved all the attention and praise for her years of work and her warm, kind personality.
So that was one of the most important days in France’s life. For the first time, many people gathered to commemorate her arrival to this world and pay homage to what she had been doing for years.
It is truly a heart-melting story that can teach us a lot about all the lonely people in this world and what we can do to make them feel valued.
