Witmer announces retirement
- 12 March 2007
Merv Witmer doesn't really know the whens or the whys. He says he just knew it was time to do something else.
So earlier this year, Witmer, a 37-year educator, administrator and long-time coach set the ball in motion, making the 2006-07 school year his last.
And Monday night at the monthly Ephrata school board meeting, it all became official as the board approved his retirement as Director of student Athletics/Activities, effective, June 30th.
"I can't answer that," Witmer said tuesday afternoon when asked why he decided to retire at this time. "I just got to thinking about it in the last year or two. No one thing happened that made me come to this decision. There's a time for everything and I just decided it was time to do something else."
What that is, he's not exactly sure.
"I'm open to anything," he said. "I don't have any set goals or anything. I'll probably do some volunteer work but really, I'm just ready to do something else."
Witmer has been Director of Student Athletics/Activities for the last 15 years at the school and has taught at Ephrata for the last 34 years.
In addition, he was a well-respected coach at Ephrata. He was the head wrestling coach for much of his 33 years in the program and built one of the top programs in the District Three through much of the 80s and 90s.
He also assisted in track and field for a few years and coached football for 22 years, including a seven-year stint as head coach from 1983 to 1989. His 1987 team was the last championship squad at Ephrata, having captured the Section Two title with a 9-1 league mark.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.