Honoring Our Spartan Retirees

The St. Stephen’s community bids farewell to three talented and devoted retiring faculty and staff members who have served the campus for a collective 83 years. Although their presence on campus will be missed, their inspiring legacy is long-lasting. The St. Stephen’s community celebrated each retiree during a special chapel service and wished each of these Spartans good health and great happiness as they embark on their next chapter.

JIM WOODRUFF began his threedecade tenure at St. Stephen’s on August 1, 1990, and has worn many hats during his impactful journey. From 1990 to 1995, he served as the director of development, and he later transitioned into academics as assistant and head of Upper School. Most noteworthy has been Woodruff’s 31-plus years in the classroom. He began teaching theology in 1991 and has served as the Theology Department chair since 1992. He has inspired hundreds and hundreds of intrepid theologians, as he calls them, leading them through the spiritual autobiography process and sharing the compelling stories of so many colleagues. The Class of 2025 selected Woodruff as the 2025 faculty graduation speaker.

Through the years, students have enjoyed and appreciated Woodruff’s approach to theology, some commenting in their written evaluations that “he encourages seniors to think critically, reflect on their own lives, be interested in the lives of other people and get to know all their classmates.”

Woodruff is probably most known on campus for taking his class on walks and having class near the Brewster Memorial Garden — he jokingly urges students to “walk like theologians” with their hands behind their backs while deep in thought, and he uses the school’s beautiful campus as his classroom.

MARTHA BLACK retired after 30 years of supporting prospective students and parents, most recently in the role of senior associate director of Admission.

During a chapel service in May, Lawrence Sampleton, the associate head of school for enrollment management and financial aid, spoke about Black’s three decades of service on The Hill. Black was first hired as an office assistant, and she later advanced to assistant director, associate director and then senior director. She has been instrumental in introducing more technology to streamline and improve office efficiency — moving from the old-school snail mail way of sending Admission contracts to prospective families to sending contracts digitally, speeding up response time.

“The reason I’m using that as an example is because Martha was there with us every step of the way,” said Sampleton.

At the end of her special retirement chapel recognition, State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio P ’29, ’27, was in attendance to make a surprise announcement that one day prior (May 15, 2025), he passed House Resolution 1113. The special resolution “honors Black’s retirement as the senior associate director of Admission for boarding recruitment of St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin in 2025, drawing a close to an exemplary tenure with the school that has spanned three decades.”

Fischer’s two daughters will attend St. Stephen’s in the fall of the 2025-26 academic year, and he said he was moved to pass the resolution.

“We always tell [our daughters] about gratitude and kindness. And that is how we felt from the very first time we spoke to you about considering this school and going through the application process,” said Fischer. “And we recall very vividly that you Zoomed with us on a snow day from your house to talk to us about looming deadlines and things that had to occur with all due speed.”

Black has also been a huge advocate of Key Society, a group of Spartans who help introduce the campus to prospective students and families. Above all, she will be remembered for being nice to everyone, every day.

MISSIE THORP retired in September 2024 as St. Stephen’s bookstore manager and purchasing director. During her 18year tenure, the store she was in charge of moved locations several times, while Thorp’s genuine care and dedication to the faculty, staff and students on The Hill never wavered.

During a special chapel service honoring her retirement in fall 2024, English Department Chair Colleen Hynes, PhD, described the countless ways Thorp played a critical role on campus. Her initiatives ranged from supporting and equipping faculty and staff with what they needed on a daily basis to stocking classroom and office supplies to making sure copy machines were functioning. Thorp anticipated the needs of the residential community, ordering odds and ends until that next Target run, keeping greeting cards on the rack and making sure there was plenty of Spartan spirit merchandise on the shelves. Hynes said some of the most important moments in the bookstore weren’t about paper clips or pens or bottles of Gold Leaf Tea.

“It’s the moments that Miss Thorp is connecting with all of us who come and go as part of our day. She has a smile and upbeat attitude even when the line is out the door on those sweltering, hottest August days when everyone gears up for a new year. And more than once since I’ve been writing or conferencing in [my office], I’ve heard her on the other side of the wall offering moral support and a listening ear to students who stopped by for Post-it notes but really needed a little TLC.”