John Ghinga was hired on August 17, 1998 by the Corbett School District. This spring he will be retiring after 20 years as one of the best custodians Corbett has ever had. Born in Romania, John brought his wife and young son to the U.S. at the age of 33. John's sister had made the move first and encouraged her brother to come. He agreed- never believing it would or could happen! Grateful to leave a communist government, John took the opportunity awarded to him to move his family to New Jersey and got a job working for a bus company, doing maintenance for 4.5 years. When his sister moved to Oregon, he decided to follow after. She told him it was beautiful and looked a lot like their home country of Romania. John and his family moved to Oregon where he purchased a home and his wife turned it into an adult care facility. John and his wife added a daughter to their family and they loved Oregon! John got a job working at the Boring Saw Mill as a Backing Saw Operator, cutting logs to different dimensions. There was going to be a layoff due to a lack of BIG logs no longer coming to the mill, so John started looking elsewhere for work. He applied at the Corbett School District and was hired! He has been at Corbett ever since and loves it! He has worked in all the buildings and says it has been a good job to have over the many years. His son Paul is now grown and also works at the Corbett School District as a custodian. His daughter works in a real estate office and both live locally. His wife passed away from cancer in 2013. They had been married for 35 years. John says that when he retires he will keep busy with his gardening, beekeeping and metal detecting. The best thing he ever found with his detector? A gold ring in Seaside, Oregon!
