President Ruth Simmons isn't the only figure on campus with a following. Brown staff cleans industrial-sized messes, feeds college-sized appetites and makes the lives of the students who love them just a little bit better. But beyond the hellos and the daily smile, how well do students know the famous faces of Brown?
Champlin's Champion
The whiteboard on her office door is always covered with appreciative notes — "We love you Rose!" "We appreciate you!" "Rose is the best!" Students in Morriss-Champlin hall know how lucky they are to have Rose Silveira as their dormitory custodian.
Always smiling and never complaining, Silveira is a beloved member of the Department of Facilities Management staff. Thirteen years of perfect attendance have made her somewhat of "a legend," she said. "I think people think I'm a role model."
But her work experience was not always so rewarding. At 16, Silveira had to quit high school to get a job. Growing up poor, Silveira said, she did what she could to earn a living, making rugs in a factory and then working in a sweatshop at a luggage company. "They didn't treat me well," she said.
When she was 18, Silveira married her husband of 27 years and has since raised two daughters and earned her GED. She loves to draw and sew and wanted to be a fashion designer growing up. Her family still lives in Bristol, where Silveira has volunteered as a Sunday school teacher for the past 20 years.
Now, Brown is like "my own home," she said. "I wouldn't trade this job for nothing in the world." In 13 years, Silveira said, a student has never been disrespectful to her. "It's nice to have an impact on kids. It means a lot," she said.
In spite of having to clean up blood, vomit and other off-putting substances, Silveira takes pride in her work. In 2002, she was nominated for the Gaspar/Arzoomanian Outstanding Union Employee Award, awarded annually to a Facilities Management employee to acknowledge outstanding contributions to the University. Silveira received a $1,000 check and a plaque along with the award. It was "better than an Oscar," she said.
Home sweet Ratty
Her greetings are always cheerful. Her earrings match the seasons, and her smile never seems to go away. Entering her 10th year with Brown Dining Services, Sharpe Refectory Cashier Gail McCarthy is a friend to all students who eat there.
Before coming to Brown, McCarthy worked as a waitress at Newport Creamery for 28 years. After attending high school in East Providence, she took some night classes at the Community College of Rhode Island but did not complete a degree. "I did everything wrong, and it ended up right," she said.
McCarthy said she applied for a job at Brown when she saw an advertisement in the newspaper. "I love it. I wish I had come here sooner," she said.
Beyond working at Brown, McCarthy gardens and loves to walk. One of her favorite pastimes is going to the theater.
McCarthy, an avid traveller, said her favorite destination is Aruba, where she used to go with her mother before she passed away last year. "The one thing I miss the most in my life is my mother, and I miss her dearly," McCarthy said.
McCarthy said she is very happy working at Brown. "I feel like I'm getting the college education I never had through the students," she said. Welcoming students into the Ratty every day, she gets to know students well and watches them grow.
"I really love students coming in as freshmen. They come in so young, and they leave so grown-up," she said. "You see a big change over four years."
Old Timer
English is not his first language, but Acacio Pina is always eager to strike up conversations with the students he encounters every day. For the past 24 years, Pina has been the custodian in New Pembroke 4, cleaning its 24 bathrooms, among many other tasks. Pina came to the United States in 1979 from Portugal, where he grew up. While Portuguese is his native language, and he is still learning English, Pina always makes an effort to say hello. Students said they appreciate his constant friendliness and dedication to keeping their dorm clean.
He now lives in North Smithfield with his wife and their two daughters. He said he likes working at Brown, especially on the Pembroke side of campus.
He's with the band
Students know Joe Marshall as the custodian in charge of cleaning Diman House. But they might not be aware that he is also a guitarist in a band that has been together for decades. Or that he played on the same stage as Bruce Springsteen while on tour many years ago.
Marshall started playing music when he was 12 years old, after his father encouraged him to take accordion lessons. One night, he saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. He has been a guitarist ever since.
Marshall played his first club at 16 and later became part of his current band, Mixed Emotions. Since their formation, the band has gone on tours for up to three years at a time, he said.
One tour is particularly memorable. "When I was on the road with the band one time," Marshall said, "we were playing at the Holiday Inn in Cleveland and this guy came into the lounge." The man told the band that there was a musician staying at the inn who wanted to play with them — that musician was Bruce Springsteen.
Springsteen was playing at a hotel up the street but wanted to try a smaller setting, Marshall said. A couple of months later, Springsteen was famous.
Marshall's band still plays concerts on the weekends. In the coming weeks, the band is scheduled to appear at several local venues.
Marshall has worked at the University for 12 years — 10 of which have been spent in Diman. Before coming to Brown, he worked at a lumber yard and a nursing home. He responded to a newspaper ad for the custodian job, thinking he would never get it. But the next day he received a call. "So here I am," he said.
Brown is a great place to work because of the benefits, the security and especially the students, Marshall said. "I love them," he said. "Every year there's different kids coming in, from different parts of the world, with different personalities. I get to know them."
Marshall said he plans to retire in the near future. As for life after Brown, he said he hopes to play guitar and sing on a cruise ship.
