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MICHELE MILLERGeorge Markos may have retired from Gulfside Elementary School, but that doesn't stop him from reporting in for work.
HOLIDAY - It has been a nearly two years since George Markos retired from his job as a custodian at Gulfside Elementary School.
Funny thing is, he never really left.
"He's here almost every day," said Donna Colby, who serves as the school's volunteer coordinator. "I don't know what we'd do without him."
That's one of the reasons Markos was recently named a volunteer of the month at Gulfside.
These days 71-year-old Markos logs about 25 hours a week volunteering, often walking the 21/2 miles from his home to the school.
Markos, who immigrated from Greece and lived in Michigan and Ohio before moving to Florida, says he enjoys a good day of hard work.
The father of five and grandfather of two happened across his former custodian job while registering his youngest daughter at Gulfside.
"I saw a guy working outside and asked, "How do you get a job like that?"' said Markos, who went on to work at the school for 20 years.
Much of his time these days is spent tending to the flowers and bushes he planted before retiring.
"I like to be outside. I have to water my flowers. If I don't water them they die," Markos said. "It feels like my own house here. And I like the people."
"You shouldn't just sit down and do nothing after you retire," he said. "Mentally I think you'd go crazy."
Markos, whose wife, Shirley, works at the school as a paraprofessional, also helps out with cafeteria duty and hall duty.
"Whatever we ask him to do, he does," Colby said. "The kids all love him."
For Markos, the time at the school is well spent.
"I'm just retired from being paid," he said. "When you spend 20 years in a place, you feel like it's part of you."