Ken Ridgeway has a creed that he’s remained faithful to no matter his calling.

It does not matter the job, or what Ridgeway is paid for it. Ridgeway is going to do the work to the best of his ability.

He’s lived that commitment as groundskeeper at Plano High School for close to a decade. Ridgeway carried that dedication overseas as a steam plant operator aboard ships in the U.S. Navy.

“I believe you give 110% in everything you do,” Ridgeway said.

Ridgeway, born and raised in south Georgia, has service in the blood.

Family tradition is to serve in the military. His grandfather was in the Navy during World War II, his dad and both of his brothers in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War and an older brother in the U.S. Army in the Gulf War.

His nephew’s younger brother was in the Army, his son in the Marine Corps and his daughter in the Navy.

“I believe that we live in the greatest country in the world,” Ridgeway said. “Give something back, even if you don’t make a career out of it. Leave it better than you found it.”

Ridgeway’s journey started after he graduated high school, went to a Bible college in Arkansas and quickly learned college was not for him.

Ridgeway went to the Air Force recruiting station, but didn’t score high enough to get in. A Navy guy asked if he had ever considered the Navy, and next thing Ridgeway knew he was on a plane out of Atlanta to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Chicago.

“I was looking for a way to get out on my own, and that was a way to do it,” Ridgeway said. “I saw snow for the first time in my life.”

After boot camp, Ridgeway went across the street to the Navy training facility and went to boiler technician machinist mate A school to be a steam plant operator.

“You got steam-powered ships you used to have. Navy is run-off boilers and steam, and you are an engineer on board a ship,” Ridgeway said.

Ridgeway got on his first ship in Charleston, South Carolina, the USS Frank Cable, stationed there until 1994 until the ship was taken over to Guam. Homeported out of Guam, they went to Japan, Australia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Korea and New Zealand as part of the Seventh Fleet. Ridgeway’s ship was responsible for taking care of the submarines from fuel to ammunition.

He worked in the engineering department.

“The ship didn’t go anywhere without me,” he said. “We were the dirty socks of the ship. We carried it everywhere.”

Ridgeway was stationed overseas from 1996 until 2002 and served as an instructor at Great Lakes from 2002 until he left the Navy in 2005.

He drove 18-wheelers for a year and a half, but his wife of now 26 years, a school teacher in Naperville, told him, “I didn’t marry a truck driver,” and found him a job in Westmont. He started as a custodian and worked his way up to maintenance.

Ridgeway’s worked in Plano since April 2017, taking care of all the athletic fields. He cuts the grass around the entire district, assists with planting trees and general maintenance.

He prepares and paints the fields, making it presentable for events. He’s learned a lot from YouTube and gone to different high schools to learn what they do. He’s taken classes through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources out of his own pocket to learn about turf and how to maintain it.

“If my name is going to be on it, it’s going to look good,” Ridgeway said.

Ridgeway, in a sense, has come full circle.

Back in Georgia, he would have sooner gone to a high school football game than an Atlanta Falcons game, although he bleeds Georgia Bulldogs black and red. He played high school football, played a little bit while in Arkansas and also played semi-pro football while stationed in Guam.

“I don’t care what school comes and plays on these fields; I want them to be safe, first and foremost,” Ridgeway said. “Having said that, if the field is safe, it’s going to look good too.”

Ridgeway, 53 next July, said what he does now has him by himself a lot. He doesn’t mind. It keeps things simple that way.

“If you had told me I would be doing this as a job 30 years ago, I would say no way,” Ridgeway said. “I don’t care what the job is, what you’re being paid to do it. Just do it to the best of your ability. I enjoy it, I really, truly do.”