Webb retires as town clerk - Wayne-Wilson News Leader, Fremont, NC

6 December 2007 — When Diane Webb applied for the job of town clerk in Stantonsburg 23 years ago, she said she came in ready to find somewhere she could work and stay until she retired. And Stantonsburg was just the place to do that.

As the year closes out, Diane is preparing to retire as the town clerk. She will fully retire on January 1 of next year, but has been working part-time to train her replacement since May.

Diane said her experience working with the town has been enjoyable. She has developed a close relationship with her co-workers in the office, partially due to the fact that, like her, people in the town usually stick it out until retirement.

“The town has been very fortunate – most people stick around,” she said.

Getting into the job, Diane knew that she wanted to stay around for a while. In the mid seventies, she worked with the City of Wilson under the director of finance. After leaving that job and taking care of her household for a couple of years, Diane said she was ready to find something she could do until she was ready to retire.

That’s when she heard they were hiring a town clerk in Stantonsburg.

Though she’s not a Stantonsburg native, Diane was interested in working there. She has lived down the road between Saratoga and Wilson since she was married, and grew up just a little ways further down, near Gardner School.

So she applied for the job, and was hired by the town in 1983. Back then, she said, a familiar face was running the town. At that time, current mayor Roland Gardner was serving as the town manager.

“I got a lot of help from him,” she said with a smile.

She and Mr. Gardner shared a bit of common history; both had worked for the City of Wilson before coming to work in Stantonsburg. Though they didn’t work there at the same time, many who worked with Mr. Gardner were still employed with the city when Diane was there.

“That gave us something to talk about right off the bat,” she said.

The two worked well together and became good friends. And when Mr. Gardner retired in 1993 and current town manager Gary Davis came to town, she said they worked well together too.

The relationships she developed with her co-workers, said Diane, will be one of the things she misses most about working for the town.

“If someone has a problem here, it’s everybody’s problem,” she said. Her co-workers have developed a family relationship with each other, and everyone makes sure that the others are taken care of. For that reason, she knows that, though she won’t be working there, she’ll still be in touch with everyone at the office.

During her time at town hall, Diane said she’s enjoyed a lot of different aspects of the job.

“Small towns have to do all the same things that larger towns do, but on a smaller scale,” she said. “You get to learn a little bit and help with a little of everything that goes on.”

And, like many of the long-time workers, she said she has enjoyed getting to know the people of the town through her job.

“I’ll miss the people I work with, the people that come in on a regular basis,” she said.

But after helping to train the new town clerk for six months, she knows she’s leaving those people in good hands.

Diane has been working with Victoria Lucas since she was hired in May of this year, and Diane says she came into the job with a lot of working knowledge.

Victoria came to Stantonsburg from the town of Farmville, where she worked in the utility collections department. From her previous work, she already knew a lot of the software programs and procedures when she arrived.

Diane will be staying through the end of the year to help Victoria close out payroll for the year, but when she leaves everything to her in January, she is confident that the town will continue to be well served by its clerk.

As for Diane, she plans to do a little more of the things she enjoys once she’s fully retired.

She notes that she’ll continue to do the things that she’s always done, including taking care of her husband of 44 years, Garland, and tending to things around the house. But she hopes to have more time for gardening.

“I enjoy being outside in the yard, doing yard work,” she said. “I also have a little greenhouse where I raise orchids.”

She hopes to hone her green thumb during nicer weather. When the weather doesn’t cooperate, however, Diane also enjoys sewing.

She adds that there are a lot of things that she wants to do, and only time will tell what’s in store for her.

Though most of her days will now be spent around her home outside Wilson, there’s no doubt that Diane will still be in touch with her friends in Stantonsburg. And though she’s never lived in the city limits of the municipality, her service to the town most definitely grants her the status of an honorary citizen.

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Issue of 6 December 2007

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