Joy, unique, and family. These were the three words Dean’s Secretary Nancy Sheehan used to describe her duck collection.

Twenty years worth of collection led to over 150 ducks in the deans office. Sheehan has been collecting the ducks ever since a student left a little one on her desk back in 1995. After the little duck got stolen, Sheehan replaced it with another duck and a small family of ducks that ex dean Mark T. Wilson gave her- from then on, the massive collection started.

Now that she is retiring, she decided to sell her precious collection and donate the money.

“Well, for one thing my husband said no ducks are coming home with you,” she chuckled. “And I didn’t have anywhere to put them at home.”

Although Sheehan is selling most of her ducks to donate the money to Dance Marathon, she still take some ducks that had sentimental meaning to her home. One of the few she kept was given to her by a lady she worked with for eight years.

“I call it the evil duck because it has little red beady eyes,” she laughed. “I had to take her home.”

Selling her collection and retiring both give Sheehan a bitter sweet feeling. She loved her job at West and enjoyed helping students get through the problems they faced during their high school career. She also believes that over the course of years, the staff has become her family.

“The ducks made it fun to be down here. Anyone who would walk through would have a chuckle because they’d see all the ducks and want to know where they came from,” she said. After all, her daughter did contribute in the collection but most of the ducks were given to Sheehan by students and faculty.

Being 67 years old, Sheehan believes it is time to retire and spend more time with her husband, daughter, and grandchildren. Even though she doesn’t have anything on her bucket list to check off after retiring, she does want to travel a bit, enjoy her family and to have more time to do things at a leisurely pace around the house.

“I am going to be a sub, so people will still see me walking through the halls every once in a while; most staff never really leaves,” she said.

Sheehan is hoping to raise a little over $100 to donate to Dance Marathon.