Leland Bough, the Weller Hall building service worker from Mattoon, has been at his job for 15 years, but he says he is better known to the Weller dwellers as “Pee Wee.”

Bough, who served two years in Okinawa, Japan during the Vietnam War, said working as a building service worker has been the most rewarding job that he has ever had.

Bough said he keeps in contact with former students, as well as former service workers who have retired.

“It’s just like a big family,” Bough said. “You get attached to these kids and you remember a lot of them.”

Bough said one of the best moments from working in Weller was when two former residents, who had been resident advisors in Weller at the time, had called him and invited him to their wedding.

Bough said he now sees the couple, Joe and Natalie Garling, as well as their twin girls, about twice a year.

At 5:30 a.m., Bough starts his day and arrives at Weller by 7 a.m. and does a quick walkthrough of the building to make sure all the residents have soap, toilet paper, paper towels and other necessities.

Bough said his job usually takes until 10 a.m. to finish both the girls’ and boys’ sides of the building.

“It’s rather rewarding,” Bough said. “I’ve had a lot of them tell me they appreciate the job I do.”

Bough said he does not have trouble with the Weller residents making messes and he said he thanks the current resident advisors for that.

“If you have a good resident advisor, then the buildings stays pretty clean,” Bough said.

Bough said that he had to discuss problems with certain floors when he worked in other buildings in the past, but the floor residents, service workers and resident advisors work together to solve the problem.

The residents and resident advisors in Weller are the best that Bough has ever had, he said.

“This is the only job that I’ve ever had that I wake-up in the morning and want to go to work,” Bough said.

Bough said the hardest part of working as a building service worker is when the students move back home.

Bough said that he not only misses the students, but there is also a lot of work that needs to be done to the buildings over summer including cleaning and moving the furniture around in the dorms and cleaning up after the various camps and conferences that use the dorms during the summer.

Working around such a young and energetic group of people keeps Bough on his toes, he said.

“When you work around young people, it keeps you young,” Bough said.

Kathryn Richter can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].