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Unsung Hero

Shannon Puckett, operations manager, celebrates 25 years at Trinity
Most students know Shannon Puckett as one half of the lunch delivery duo with Michelle Bavaro, where the pair of friends look forward to brightening each Titan’s day with a hot, fresh meal. But behind the scenes, Puckett has been the dutiful and dependable doyen of Trinity’s everyday business operations and financials for nearly 25 years. “I don't think everyone realizes all that she does for Trinity,” says Bavaro. “She is the wizard behind the curtain that makes this place run as smoothly as it does. She wears so many hats, I think we need another building for them all.”
 
Most teachers know her as a red-tape cutter, solving benefits quandaries for a confused coworker one day, then finding just the right set of office or classroom supplies another. “Shannon is always there when you need her to order something that makes your room feel truly like your own,” says Head of School Rob Short. “She gets to work early and is always willing to lend a hand.”
 
If Trinity were a car, she would be the fuel pump — hidden under the hood, yet dependably gathering and applying the school’s revenue at the precise moment when it’s needed most. Joe Monaco is Trinity’s chief operating officer and Shannon’s next-door neighbor on the second floor of the Wright House, home of the school’s business and development offices. He says Puckett’s superpower is the diligence needed for the daily, sometimes tedious, but always critical, tasks that no one else wants to do. Pouring herself into such selfless, often anonymous work is just how she likes it, he says. “In fact, she would be irritated with me for contributing to this article!”
 
Visitors to Puckett’s office will immediately learn three things about Shannon — her impeccable labelling and organizational skills, her affinity for true-crime podcasts and her deep affection for animals. The child of a Chesterfield K9 police officer, Shannon’s first pet was a German shepherd. Over the years, she has rescued eight dogs from area shelters, including current pups Harper Lee (10, long-haired shepherd mix), Kona (9, mix) and Wallen (6, a dachshund who “runs the show”). “My [long-term] dream would be to have enough land to save as many as I could,” she says. 
 
“One of my favorite memories was when I convinced her to do the SPCA Dog Jog 5K and we trained together in the neighborhoods around Trinity,” says Laura Hamlin Weiler ’00, head of community engagement. “Rain or shine, we were out there… On race day, she ran joyfully in support of the dogs and cats who receive new families and new lives through the SPCA.”
 
 
 
 
Raised in Colonial Heights and Chesterfield County, Shannon graduated from Matoaca High School, where she began taking accounting classes. After stints in optical services and construction materials, she landed at Slabaugh Morgan, White & Associates, an employee benefit consulting firm, in the late 1990s. After a merger, the company decided to move the accounting department to the home office in Savannah, GA. “It was funny, stressful and kind of ironic,” she recalls. “This all happened the year I finally purchased my home. I literally went from signing the paperwork into the office that day to learning I no longer had a job!”
 
Fortunately, one of her former coworkers at SBW&A, Diane Monaco ’81, told her that her husband, Joe, was looking to hire an accounting associate at Trinity. “I remember one time she showed me an inventory of all the items in her attic, and I thought, ‘Who does that? Shannon does!’,” recalls Diane. “If you've ever visited her office it is the most organized beautiful space I've ever seen!”
 
Her job interview with then-headmaster Tom Aycock convinced her that Trinity was like a family. “I got that feeling from the very start,” she said. With Trinity’s tremendous growth and expansion over the past 25 years, she says she is sometimes nostalgic for those earlier, closer-knit days. Still, she says, “I just really love working with the people I still interact with on a daily basis, which is why I have stayed.”
 
Head of School Rob Short is especially grateful for Puckett's contributions to the community over that time. “Shannon demonstrates deep compassion and care for her colleagues, family and pets,” he says. “It is great to have such a caring person in the Trinity family.”
 
For Joe Monaco, it's hard to imagine a better colleague. “She is a team player,” Monaco says fondly. “She is one of the nicest, most caring people I have ever met, and it has been my privilege to work with her for the last 25 years.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Trinity Episcopal School

3850 PITTAWAY DR | RICHMOND VA 23235-1099 | Phone: 804.272.5864 | Fax: 804.272.5865 Email: mail@trinityes.org