Always Grateful

Wilbur Athey and Ralph Apicella had run into each other there times. They’d nod, exchange pleasantries, then move on to their next stops: Athey to Collegiate, where he served at the time as logistics/setups and special events supervisor, and Apicella to the retirement he’d paid for with sweat equity after four decades in the work force.

 

Athey’s days were full, of course. Apicella’s not so much. While he was enjoying well deserved free time with his wife Pat, four adult children, and seven grandchildren, he needed a professional focus to give him a sense of purpose and accomplishment. It didn’t have to be much. Just enough to get him off the couch and away from the television.

 

Along the way, they’d made the Collegiate connection because Athey, more often than not, wore Cougar gear. Do you know Debbie Hailes? Apicella asked. And Charlie Blair? And Charlie McFall? Apicella had been acquainted with them along the way, mainly through soccer, which his son Matthew played.

 

One morning, the casual conversation included Apicella’s desire to land a part time gig doing whatever was available and in his wheelhouse.

 

Seems Collegiate was looking for someone to fill the role of logistics technician/mail clerk.

 

Have you ever worked in a mail room? Athey asked.

 

In a post office? Apicella replied.

 

No, Athey said. In a school. Delivering packages and internal mail. Making post office runs. Pitching in where needed.

 

Apicella expressed interest. Come over and fill out an application, Athey suggested.

 

“He came the next day,” Athey said one recent afternoon. “We interviewed him, liked what we saw, and hired him. The rest is history. He’s still here.”

 

That was 2019, and in the time since, Apicella, on his golf cart with a load of boxes in tow, has become a familiar presence on campus, fulfilling his assigned duties promptly, thoroughly, professionally, joyfully, and with pride in workmanship.

 

He’s also become a recognizable and appreciated member of the Collegiate community who has become involved in the life of the School well beyond his job description.

 

“Collegiate is the most loving, caring community I’ve ever worked in in my life,” Apicella said. “I never go by somebody without them waving and speaking.”

 

A New Jersey native, Apicella moved to Richmond before his senior year in high school because of his father’s job transfer. He played football (wide receiver) at DePaul High School in Wayne, New Jersey, but two concussions ended his career, so he turned his athletic attention to track and field where his best event was the 440 and his best time before moving south was in the 54-second range.

 

“I wasn’t really all that good until I came to Freeman and decided to run cross country,” he said. “Cross country really helped me drop my time.”

 

Under the tutelage of Freeman legends John Massello (cross country) and Bill Long and Jim Sangston (track), Apicella improved to the 50-to-51 second range and once recorded a 49.9. As a senior in 1969, he won the Colonial District meet in his event of choice and placed fifth (with a 50 flat) in the Class AAA state meet at William & Mary.

 

After a year as a post-graduate at Fork Union, two years at Chowan Junior College, and time at Virginia Commonwealth University, he signed on with Lucky Convenience Stores and ultimately became the organization’s operations manager, overseeing 13 facilities and 200 employees in Central Virginia. He remained with the company for three decades.

 

“My boss wanted to sell the business,” he said. “Wawa and Sheetz were coming around. It’s hard to compete with them. I bought the small store at Church and Pump. We did a lot with [Mills] Godwin [High School], trying to key into the community. It’s no longer there. [The site] is going to be a Waffle House.”

 

Out of the convenience store business, Apicella spent a couple of years running the car wash (now, a couple of incarnations later, a Flagstop) behind his former store.

 

Then came retirement.

 

“That wasn’t the life for me,” he said. “I was doing basically nothing. Couldn’t handle that anymore.”

 

His serendipitous meeting with Athey led to his 29-hour per week part time gig on North Mooreland Road.

 

“It’s perfect for me just getting out and having some sense of worth,” he said. “It keeps me active.”

 

Part time, though, doesn’t actually mean part time. He oversees the concessions for Collegiate football games. He hopes to provide the same service for other events on the Grover Jones Field and Jim Hickey Track going forward.

 

He and Pat, his wife of 53 years, are regulars at Collegiate’s home basketball games. Same with VCU games at the Siegel Center.

 

“Basketball is my first [athletic) love,” he said. “My wife’s first love too.”

 

Why?

 

“Just the competition,” he said. “I like to see kids compete. My wife’s a fanatic VCU fan. We were in Chiante (at Gayton Crossing) last year, and the VCU basketball team walked in. My wife went crazy. She made me go up to the coach (Mike Rhoades) and ask if she could take a picture with him. So she has a picture with him and with the whole team. Those are her pride-and-joy pictures.”

 

Back on North Mooreland Road, Apicella makes his runs between the business office and myriad campus locations where he delivers mail and parcels. He’s dutiful, dedicated, industrious, pleasant, humble and authentic to a fault, and grateful. Always grateful.

 

“Every day, it’s fun to come to work,” he said. “I’m glad I’m here. I’m going to stay here until I can’t do it anymore.”

~Weldon Bradshaw