By Angel Perkins Correspondent
After working for the Town of Bourbon for nine years as deputy clerk, Verna Stephenson is enjoying a well-earned retirement. “I’ve pretty much worked my entire lifetime,” she explained. “A lot of the time I worked at factories and got up at 4 or 5 in the morning.” She came to the position in Bourbon after working at Reynold’s Metals, a window factory for 10 years; for NIMS (Northern Indiana Manufacturing) in Bourbon and for McCord’s in Plymouth, a radiator factory, for 16 years. An enthusiastic Stephenson explained: “The first thing I did (after her last day working, June 5) was unplug that alarm clock!”

Her duties as deputy clerk were not set in stone during her employ through several council changes. “It was my first desk job in an office,” Stephenson said. “I answered phones for the town (utility and street departments) and the police. I took care of the park rentals, paperwork for people moving in and out for their utilities, paperwork for the town bills. I managed the water bills and sent them out and collected the payments and put the meter readings in the computer. I kept the daily receipts and did the banking preparation for the town and other miscellaneous things like keeping paper in the copier. I really loved it. The councils have always treated me well and I’ve always felt appreciated.”
With four children (Donald Jr., Angela, Christopher and Rodney) and six grandchildren (Joshua, Jordan, Jessica, Bailey, Coen and Ethan), Stephenson’s retiring allows for more time visiting with them. The Fulton County resident and her husband of 19 years, Donald, spent Stephenson’s first month unemployed keeping up with two of their grandchildren, Coen and Ethan, visiting them from Kansas.
Now, with only the couple, their dog and two cats, Stephenson said she will focus on her flower gardens and getting her home in order. “When you work full time that doesn’t leave a lot of time to organize, really,” she said. “And I like to read and watch movies. ‘Daytime TV’ is a new thing to me. I’m leading a quiet and uneventful life and I like that!”
She said while settling into her retirement is easy, she does miss the people she worked with and got to know so well through her employment in Bourbon. “A lot of our customers, we’ve had since I started there,” she said. “You see each other all the time and get to know them and their families and you become like friends. We had a little family there in the office. When someone was feeling down or things were tough, we were there for each other. I miss them all.”
The employees showed their appreciation for her efforts as well hosting a retirement party for her last day on the job. “Kim (Berger, town clerk treasurer) gave me a gorgeous flowering tree,” Stephenson explained with a smile. “There was a beautiful cake and food and all kinds of stuff.”
She said she gave a six month notice of her retirement intentions “so they could find someone” to replace her. “Kim and I became very close,” Stephenson said. “She is a very wonderful boss. She’s smart, quick and one of the best bosses I’ve ever had ... all my life. I love her and her family, even her dog Macy. I don’t think people really realize how much she does and how well she juggles everything.”
With Stephenson gone, replacing her was another thing Berger had to juggle and she seems to be doing so with ease. Mondays and Wednesdays Stephenson’s position is filled by Berger’s sister, Kandi Craft who not only works as the front office receptionist for Bremen Family Medicine (where she has been employed since 1991) but also assists her husband in their deejay business, something she says is more of a hobby than a form of employment. “We do it for fun,” she explained.
Craft has filled in for Stephenson in the past as well as for her sister on occasion for “several years.” At the Town of Bourbon, Craft’s face is replaced by that of Berger’s son Tyler, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and her daughter Jennifer Potter, an educator at Triton Elementary School, on Fridays—until school starts again Aug. 18.