As you walk into school each morning and leave each afternoon, you encounter dozens of familiar faces—students, teachers, and coaches. Among the vital members of our school community are those whose names you might not recall but whose faces you recognize—the janitorial crew. Anne Sartori is one such invaluable member who ensures the school’s spaces are safe and clean.

“I didn’t have the kill instinct for the corporate world, there was cutthroat that needed to happen, but it just didn’t sit right with me and I felt disheartened.” said Sartori. 

Before coming to Greenhills Sartori worked in the professional world as an inventory Analyst at Borders Books. After many years she left the corporate industry to join healthcare as a medical courier. 

“I kinda liked it,” she said, “but being alone in the car all day gets kind of boring after a while, and I am at the point in my life where I can begin to ease into retirement.” 

Sartori wanted to leave the hospitals behind and start a new chapter of life. Retirement started to seem more appealing, and one of Sartori’s dearest friends encouraged her to join Greenhills to facilitate the transition. 

“One of my closest dearest friends, who I’ve known since my sophomore year of high school, works up at the front desk, she called and said ‘Hey, why don’t you come on over.’ said Sartori referring to front desk attendant Leslie Gangwere.

Nearly 40 years after their graduation from Pioneer High School, Leslie and Sartori are once again together in school halls and laugh with one another on a daily basis. 

“We call one another sisters, that’s how close we are.” said Gangwere. 

Before moving to the area right next to Ypsilanti High School with her wife and three small dogs, Sartori grew up in the neighborhood across the street from the Big House. 

 “My greatest memory growing up is living so close to the Michigan Stadium, my mom parked cars.” said Sartori. “She’d give me five dollars so I could get a ticket, a drink, and popcorn and go into the game at halftime with my friends.” 

Sartori was a teen back in the 1970s, when regulations were slightly different. She said that a couple friends and her would often sneak in through cut fences in the stadium, and they never got caught. It was the highlight of the year and is one of her most prized memories, second only to her mom’s twice weekly shepherd’s pie dinners. 

In high school Sartori was a prominent athlete. She went on to attend Olivet College and was a part of both the softball and field hockey teams. In 1993, four years after her college graduation, Sartori was inducted into the Olivet College sports hall of fame for her outstanding accomplishments in the game of field hockey.  

“I wish I would’ve played field hockey at Pioneer,” said Sartori, “but because they wore skirts I refused, I just didn’t like skirts, but it ended up being my best sport.”

Sartori has only recently left the world of athletics after sustaining a shoulder injury that would’ve required surgery to keep playing as competitively as she would’ve liked. Nevertheless, Sartori’s competitive fire remains kindled as she remains involved in competitions with friends who can play on her level.

“If you have one friend, it should be someone like Anne.” said Gangwere. “Someone who always listens, who makes you laugh, and who you can lean on no matter what.”

According to Gangwere, Sartori’s impact remains on every person and place she encounters. Her energy is contagious. She has never ending empathy and charisma. She knows how to have fun but is also an incredibly hard worker. 

“Compared to places that I’ve attended before, I definitely think students at our school are not as willing to get to know the cleaning crew despite all they do and can offer to us.” said Max Stranahan ‘26.  

Sartori has had hundreds of different experiences, but her guiding principles have remained the same throughout her whole life and she suggests that everyone live by them. 

“How you treat other people is the underlying foundation of someone’s character, and I’ve learned that is the most important thing.” said Sartori. “Yeah I do this, and you could look down on me for it, but really I could do something else if I chose to, you don’t know people’s stories, just be kind.”