Groundskeeper Steps Into Shoes

 

Groundskeeper Jon Cowden maintains outdoor areas at Cal State University, East Bay (seen here), the former Cal State University Hayward.

Often, as his big green lawnmower slices the grass on campus, Jon Cowden finds himself daydreaming over the sound of the engine.

Chances are, women’s shoes are on his mind.

“I think they’re like artwork,” he said one morning as he leaned against the mower in his faded blue uniform and work boots.

For 16 years, Cowden, 42, has tended the California State University, East Bay, grounds and painted its playing fields. He never went to college, but lately, he has spent much of his free time poring over textbooks and manuals.

In just a few years, the groundskeeper has taught himself to design and repair women’s shoes, producing everything from soccer sandals to the “cat shoe,” complete with a sleek fur tail that runs about eight inches up the back of the leg.

“Your imagination can take over ?EUR??,,????'??+ that’s what’s fun about it,” he said, his eyes lighting up under his Ford cap.

His wife is not so taken with the hobby. “I’ve learned to be tolerant of the mess during his creative process,” she said.

For a brief moment last year, when Cowden learned he might lose his job because of budget cuts, it looked as if women’s shoes might become more than a creative outlet.

“I thought, ‘What am I going to do? I don’t have a college education,’” he said.

Source: www.insidebayarea.com