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Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media
Greenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich on Wednesday.
Greenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich on Wednesday.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media
Greenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a different holiday-themed tie to wear for every day between Thanksgiving and the New Year.
lessGreenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a
... more
Greenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a different holiday-themed tie to wear for every day between Thanksgiving and the New Year.
lessGreenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a
... more
Greenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a different holiday-themed tie to wear for every day between Thanksgiving and the New Year.
lessGreenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a
... more
Greenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a different holiday-themed tie to wear for every day between Thanksgiving and the New Year.
lessGreenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a
... more
Greenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a different holiday-themed tie to wear for every day between Thanksgiving and the New Year.
lessGreenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a
... more
Greenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a different holiday-themed tie to wear for every day between Thanksgiving and the New Year.
lessGreenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a
... more
Greenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a different holiday-themed tie to wear for every day between Thanksgiving and the New Year.
lessGreenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a
... more
Greenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a different holiday-themed tie to wear for every day between Thanksgiving and the New Year.
lessGreenwich Public Schools Human Resources Director Bob Stacey shows his holiday tie collection in his office at the Board of Education building in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. Stacey has a
... more
Tie-dings of great joy: Greenwich school administrator evokes spirit of Christmas
GREENWICH — Every morning between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Bob Stacey dons a different Christmas necktie before heading in to work.
Stacey has over 20 of them. There’s the reindeer tie, the tie covered in presents, at least three different Christmas tree ties, the Santa riding a polar bear tie and, of course, the Santa golfing tie.
Stacey chooses his tie with care before going to the Havemeyer Building, where he is Greenwich Public School’s Human Resources director. It’s about more than just looking festive; the ties have a mission.
“It connects the two holidays,” he said. “A lot of times you are rushing for Thanksgiving and you are rushing for Christmas and you don’t take time to really enjoy what the spirit of the whole holiday tradition is about. So every day it’s kind of a reminder.”
Early in the season, when folks are thinking about getting their Christmas trees, Stacey will choose the green tree necktie. Closer to Christmas, he likes to wear the same Christmas tree tie, this time in black, to remind people to look at the holiday lights in the trees at night, he said.
The magic of the holiday necktie is how people react to it.
“People see them and enjoy them,” he said. “Everybody says, ‘Oh that’s a great tie.’ So it brings a little spirit to the folks and it’s noticeable.”
Stacey’s collection of Jerry Garcia ties are his favorite. He always saves a particularly colorful one with large holiday ornaments on it for the last day of work before Christmas.
“They’re funky, but classic colors and they fit,” Stacey said.
Stacey’s tie craze started when he got into education in 1997. Before that, Stacey, 60, was a military police officer serving in the army in Alabama, Maryland, California and South Korea. No one wore ties in the army, and at his next job working in human resources and safety for a construction company, ties were absent from the workplace wardrobe as well.
Stacey joined Hartford Public Schools as its HR director with a ragtag collection of ties accumulated over many years with little thought, he said. But when Stacey saw teachers and principals wearing holiday neckties, the idea grew on him.
“That’s when the fetish started,” he said.
Over time, Stacey bought more ties and many people gifted them to him. By the time he landed in New Britain as that district’s HR director in 2005, Stacey had loaded several tie racks with all kinds of ties.
Eventually, he had so many that he started giving away ties to school counselors who would provide them to New Britain’s low-income student athletes who couldn’t afford ties, but needed to dress up for away games.
Although he’s given away many, Stacey, who came to Greenwich in 2015, has over 100 ties today, he said. Many of his neckties are ordinary, but he has some St. Patrick’s Day and Valentine’s Day ties, too. One of his ties has a picture of his four daughters standing on a dock and spelling L-O-V-E with their arms on it.
Still, sometimes when shopping at Macy’s, Stacey’s wife Susan will find him with an arm draped with 10 different ties he is considering buying. She tells him to put them all back.
“The holiday ties don’t go out of style,” he said.
emunson@greenwichtime.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson
