Linda Draper’s younger daughter Katie had just started first grade, and she “was a mom who needed a job.”

A Lyndeborough resident, she got one as a classroom aide at Florence Rideout Elementary School, where Katie and two-years-older sister Sara were going to school – “and I’ve been here forever.”

To be exact, Draper, now the administrative assistant to Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative Middle High School Principal Tom Ronning, just started her 31st year in the district. She is the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript’s Hometown Hero for October. She was nominated by Melodie Jones, food service site coordinator for the high school, who wrote that Draper “is the unsung hero of our school. If there is anything needing to be done she is the one. She just makes us all want to do more for everyone.”

Draper has done “a little bit of everything” at WLC. In addition to the four years she spent as a classroom aide at FRES, she worked as a paraprofessional and in in-school suspension and alternative education. She also spent 10 years as athletic director.

“Kids are a trip,” she said. “I never thought I would be in the middle/high school for any reason.”

Draper’s degree was in accounting, so her current job is more in line with her education.

“I love the budget season and the process, but it’s frustrating because we have a short amount of time to get things done,” she said.

She also spent a year in charge of accounts payable, which let her see the other side of her present position and learn more as a taxpayer.

“That was really neat,” she said. “It’s always important to learn something new.”

Even though Draper calls herself a “set-in-my-ways” person, she also said that continuing something just because it has always been done that way is not the best approach. She notes that WLC has changed its scheduling model and curriculum, and that “things are so different than when my girls went to school.”  She also said that parents don’t seem to be as involved as they used to be, but acknowledged that people’s lives may not allow that, especially when both parents have to work. 

“If you don’t keep up, you’re going to get old,” said Draper. “I don’t want to get old.”

Draper’s daughter Sara is now 38 and a stenographer at Monadnock Community Hospital, while Katie, 36, is a special education case manager with the WLC district. Draper, 61, has grandchildren in elementary school, so she said she’s going to stick around a little bit longer.

“I can do a few more, and then it’s going to be time to play a little,” she said, specifically mentioning a desire to go to all the Disney theme parks.

Each month, the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript will recognize one of our region’s many Hometown Heroes. Nominate a Hometown Hero at tinyurl.com/3ctykcnv.