Seymour Community School Corp. is losing two of its top leaders later this year.

Business manager Steve Nauman recently announced he will retire from his position Oct. 31. He has been responsible for the financial operations of the corporation, including preparing the annual budget, since 2013.

The 59-year-old also helps lead the Seymour High School color guard with his daughter, Lacey Money, a role he plans to continue, he said.

Nauman’s retirement was approved during the Aug. 14 school board meeting.

Also leaving is Superintendent Rob Hooker, who worked with Nauman for 10½ years at Scott County School District 2 before coming to Seymour. Hooker will retire Dec. 31.

Total, they have spent more than 15 years working together.

Nauman said although he has been eligible to retire for two years, he didn’t really want to quit working but felt he needed to protect his pension.

“In the state of Indiana, when you’re not married, if something happens to you before you are retired, you lose your pension,” he said. “I didn’t want that to happen.”

Last year in May, he had two brothers-in-law die of heart attacks a day apart, and that started to weigh on his mind.

But it still has not been an easy decision, he said.

“This is tough for me because I didn’t want to retire,” he said. “I’m not really ready to retire.”

If the corporation isn’t able to find someone to fill the position, Nauman said he would be willing to stick around and help until it does.

The school board hopes to have someone in place by Jan. 1, and an interim will fill in through the end of this year, Nauman said.

Hired first as an interim for Seymour following the resignation of business manager Nancy Lumley, Nauman worked on contract while still employed with Scott County School District 2. He was hired full time by Seymour in 2014.

In his five years with Seymour Community School Corp., Nauman said he is most proud of his involvement with all of the building projects the corporation has been able to complete.

“And throughout, we’ve been able to keep our tax rate steady,” he said.

He also said he has been lucky to work with such a great staff, both at Seymour and Scottsburg.

Originally from Muncie, Nauman attended Ball State University and was part of the school’s marching band. In 1979, he got an opportunity to work in Scott County.

“(Scottsburg’s) band director had graduated from Ball State, and they needed someone to work with their color guard,” he said. “They hired a guy that marched in band with me, but at the last minute, he couldn’t go, so I went to band camp, and that’s how I got connected with Scottsburg.”

Nauman completed his student teaching at Scottsburg High School in 1982 but couldn’t find a teaching job.

He was hired at Arbuckle Chevrolet and ran its business office for five years but continued to work with the Scottsburg High School marching band.

When the treasurer at Scottsburg retired, Nauman took that position with the intent of finding a teaching job there.

“But I never did,” he said.

Nauman spent 27 years with Scott County School District 2, but the only teaching experience he had was a decade-long stint at Indiana University Southeast teaching budgeting and finance classes for graduate students.

When he left to come to Seymour, he had spent more than 35 years with the school’s marching band and won a state championship in 1989.

“That’s why I still do band up here,” he said. “It’s kind of my passion.”

So is working with kids, he said.

It makes him feel good to have made a positive impact on students, especially when they decide to go into teaching or get involved in band and color guard.

“You touch so many kids’ lives,” he said.

In retirement, he plans to spend more time with his two grown daughters, Lacey Money and Tiffany Stone, and four grandkids, Haley, Hannah, Alex and Devon.

“You think when you work for the schools you have time off, but I’ve never had that,” he said. “I won’t know what to do with a month off.”