Ashley Bond and Rich Godwin, the affable duo that has served WilmU for a combined 64 years, have greeted almost every student who entered the Wilson Graduate Center on a weeknight for the past 15 years.
Rich Godwin (left) and Ashley Bond
The idea that opposites attract has been debated for years. And Bond and Godwin are, indeed, different: their temperaments; political views; one is a social creature, the other, not so much; and their sense of fashion is, let’s say, contrasting. Yet Bond and Godwin’s dedication to service and loyalty is indistinguishable, and the brotherhood they have developed has taken them through the highs and lows. (Oh, the stories they tell.)
Their grad center colleagues have fun at Bond and Godwin’s expense — all in good humor — calling them curmudgeonly at times; inspirational at others. When it comes down to it, the team knows they can rely on Bond and Godwin, and that their respect for students is illustrative of their belief in the WilmU mission.
The grad center fixtures often referred to as “the twins,” worked in the 1980s at the Old Customs House in downtown Wilmington, when then-Wilmington College operated a location there. By day, they worked for the DuPont Company; when evening fell, Bond and Godwin manned the desks, answered questions, directed students to classrooms, and made all who entered feel welcome — just as they do today.
While both have serious verve, Bond’s colleagues nominated him recently for a WilmU Mojo Award, led by the Human Resources Department. Compelled to secure his win by wielding impressive data, they calculated that in his 33 years at WilmU, Bond served students with about 2,425,500 minutes. Clearly, the stat secured the win.
The same data-driven staffers claim to be analyzing Godwin’s service minutes as well. Stay tuned.
—Tom Hurd