Just call him Elbert: custodial worker befriends students

In a world where texting and emailing are becoming social norms, Elbert R. Dickens said the most unique thing about him was that he could communicate well with people in person.

Dickens, a custodial worker at the University of Richmond since 2007, has been Wood Hall's primary cleaner for the past two years, he said. He described himself as an easygoing person who didn't do a lot of loud talking, and those who have met him agreed. He tells everyone he meets to just call him Elbert, he said.

"He's always happy, and it's always nice to see him," said freshman David Hurd, who lives on the second floor of Wood Hall this year. "Every time he sees me, he says, 'Hello,' and asks me how my day has gone."

Gladys Baskerville, Dickens' supervisor, said she had never had any complaints or problems with Dickens since he had started working at the university.

Dickens, who has lived in Richmond his whole life, worked as a custodial worker in the city of Richmond public school system for nearly 20 years before retiring and eventually coming to work at the university, he said.

In his first year cleaning Wood Hall, Dickens became friendly with two freshman football players living there, linebackers Derek Mayo and Darius McMillan, he said.

"They would get tickets and stuff for me for the games," Dickens said.

Mayo said he remembered that Dickens always had a smile on his face and had never seemed down.

"We just had a natural connection, pretty much," Mayo said. "It's just one of those things where you can just make eye contact with someone and have an epic conversation about anything, whatever's on your mind that day."

When he's not working, Dickens has a lot of other hobbies, including coaching an eighth-grade boy's basketball team at the school where his wife teaches, Our Lady of Lourdes, he said. He's been coaching the team for about two years, after starting out as an assistant on the girl's team, he said.

"I love working with young people," Dickens said. "I didn't really play in high school. I just have a love of the game, really."

Dickens married his wife, Holly, in 1996. He said they had met when she joined the choir he was singing in at church. Holly was a voice major at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C. The couple has one daughter, Crystal, a sophomore at Randolph-Macon College.

"They would describe me as 'daddy' because to them, that's what I am," he said. "It's funny because my wife would always come home from work and call me 'daddy' because when Crystal was small, we had to get her in the habit of saying it.

"My wife and I, we travel a lot. We've been on 19 cruises. I was kind of reluctant the first one we went on, but she wanted to go, so we went. I think she kind of hooked me onto it."

Dickens doesn't sing in his church's choir anymore, but said he did sing in a community group called Saving Abraham at places including nursing homes.

"He told me he could sing, but I never heard him sing," Mayo said. "I should've asked him to sing, really. Then we could've had a little sing-off in the dorm or something."

Dickens said he had never had a problem with outright disrespect and that, for the most part, the guys living in Wood Hall had been friendly.

"I try my best not to leave a mess in the hall," Hurd said. "Whenever I see something on the ground, I tend to pick it up just because I feel like he has a hard enough job as it is, and I don't want to make it any harder on him."

Contact staff writer David Weissman at david.weissman@richmond.edu