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CEDAR RAPIDS — Fifty-three years into teaching industrial technology at Kennedy High School, Barry Wilson has no plans to retire.

“It’s weird. I’m the only one who does it. I think I’ve got more years than anyone in Iowa,” said Wilson, 81. “I’ve been sitting at the very same desk in the very same lab” since 1972.

In his classroom, Wilson is known to students by his first name “Barry.” He’s their foreman and supervisor and has serious professional expectations for them.

Wilson has no plans to retire for two reasons. One, “I can’t think of what I would do if I retired. I get bored in the summer. I’m sitting here (at home) with my feet up right now, and I would prefer to be at school building a

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