Wolfgang Hodbod had guessed it and put three stones in his jacket pocket "so that I don't get too carried away by so much praise".
Irschenberg – Because the long-standing head of the Caritas Children's Village in Irschenberg was praised without a break when he said goodbye on Thursday evening.
In a two-hour, very personal celebration, there were numerous acceptance speeches from qualified speakers.
Gifts were handed out in abundance, the teachers' band played, there was a lot of laughter, but there were also tears of emotion.
Hodbod managed the fortunes of the children's village with around 300 children and young people and 120 employees for 32 years.
The facility celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.
The president of the state parliament and member of the CSU constituency, Ilse Aigner, set the tone in her capacity as chairwoman of the association, when she greeted those present as "dear children's village family".
Referring to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, she said children should get two things from their parents: roots and wings.
"In 32 years you have succeeded in giving wings to hundreds of children who could not have been born in an intact family so that they can fly into their world."
According to the motto "see need and act", the village director also accommodated underage unaccompanied refugees.
Aigner expressed his gratitude that Hodbod will remain connected to the children's village as a board member of the association.
The board member in the Caritas Association of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, Gabriele Stark-Angermeier, emphasized that Hodbod not only shaped the fortunes of the children's village for a long time, but also of Caritas as a Catholic welfare association.
"There was always room in the children's village," she summed up the work of the director of the home.
"You will always remain a children's villager at heart."
Addressing Hodbod's wife and two daughters with a wink, Stark-Angermeier said with regard to Hodbod's retirement: "He brings a lot of power with him." So it's good that he and his family will soon be traveling a lot in the mobile home.
District Administrator Olaf von Löwis, who had already given the outgoing managing director a canister of fuel for his holiday vehicle, spoke of "Mister Children's Village", while Aigner gave a subsidy for the annual vignette for the Austrian motorways.
But Hodbod is also an "export hit" because the children's village radiates to the Rosenheim area and as far as Munich.
“Children need love.
You gave the children this love,” said von Löwis.
The District Administrator closed to the applause of around 100 guests.
"I would like to say thank you for your great life's work."
Mayor Klaus Meixner expressed himself figuratively: As village manager, Hodbod took over the helm of a large sailing ship and set the sails excellently.
For Irschenberg, the Caritas facility is “a village within a village”.
And in this hospitable village, community festivals could have been celebrated again and again.
During the farewell speeches by the staff took up a lot of space.
Principal Thomas Wimmer thanked his outgoing boss for the "very special form of cooperation".
He spoke of Hodbod's three magical qualities: He supported the school at decisive moments, enabled it to take the necessary development steps itself, and always put the matter in the foreground.
Wimmer humorously said that the director of the children's village had earned the title "Lighthouse plus" as a leader and presented him with a lighthouse model.
Other employees praised Hodbod as a "great colleague" and emphasized his sense of humor.
Sister Henriette Leisgang from the Sisters of the Holy Family - she was one of the leading employees from the very beginning - was happy about the successful further development of the children's village and that Hodbod always kept in touch with them.
The children and youth parliament also gave a small apple tree as a permanent memorial to the village director's work.
Jeanette Fiozzi-Wimmer, who as the youngest child in a home at the age of five had symbolically given Hodbod the house key when he took office, now presented Hodbod with a pendant for the ignition key to the mobile home.
She came to the children's village when she was ten months old and stayed until she was an adult.
One or the other peculiarity of the managing director was impaled by the active management staff and accompanied with the appropriate gifts.
There was a cleaning bucket for Hodbod's need for cleanliness on the village grounds, rubber boots for his hands-on nature - even when the basement was flooded - a piggy bank and high-tech label machine for his sense of thrift and order.
The extra sausage was on top,
But as the most important gift, department head Veronika Wörndl presented her long-time boss with a heart.
It should be a simple heart, "it stands for an upright life".
Hodbod had the closing words at the farewell party, skilfully moderated by Vice President Annette Ehnes: "The children's village was more than a place of work - it was my home." His daughters also grew up there and made friends with other children.
"Now my future begins" said Hodbod, referring to the children's village motto "Where the future is at home".
Meanwhile, the screen read: "Wolfgang, we will miss you." But the employees probably won't have to miss their boss for long, because Hodbod said: "Now I'm a former member of the children's village.
That's nice, because in the future I'll be invited to all the festivals, excursions and celebrations here and I'll be waited on."
Paul Winterer