Walton deputy clerk to retire after 22 years of service

Apr. 12—Gladys Jacques, who has been helping people at the Walton Town Hall for 22 years in her position as deputy town clerk, will retire at the end of April.

Jacques, who celebrated her 90th birthday Wednesday, decided it was time to retire so someone else could learn her job duties. "If I was 10 years younger, I'd stay," she said.

Jacques has held several jobs throughout her life. She said she started working after her fourth child was born. She worked at the Delaware Valley Hospital for four years as a nurses aide, 17 years as an assigner for the telephone company and seven years as a bank teller for the National Bank of Delaware County. She retired from the bank at age 62. She then started working for the town. She said growing up on her parents' dairy farm on Beers Brook Road in Beerston instilled in her her work ethic. Her cousin, Deb Goodrich, still owns the family farm.

Walton Town Clerk Ronda Williams said when she started 20 years ago, she learned how to do her job through Jacques's two years of experience. The deputy clerk fills in when the town clerk is unavailable, and therefore must know the different job duties, including issuing dog, fishing, hunting and marriage licenses, death certificates and the occasional birth certificate when a baby is born at home. The town clerk is also the tax collector in Walton.

When Williams started, everything was done by hand, she said. One of the first things Williams did was start to transition everything over to computer.

"It was a lot of work, but it made the job a lot easier," Jacques said.

In addition to transitioning over to computer, the town received a state records management grant to digitize its records, some of which were damaged during the Flood of 1996, Williams said. That meant reorganizing all of the notes and weeding out what wasn't needed and trying to locate missing records that were needed. It took a year to complete the project.

In addition, "Gladys helped with a research project," Williams said. "We researched all of the town supervisors, town clerks and judges that served the town and compiled those lists so we could display them at the town hall."

Jacques said she liked doing the research because she was interested in history. "Walton used to be a booming town," she said. "There's nothing here any more."

Growing up and attending grade school in Beerston, she remembers the hamlet had a gas station, grocery stores, a train depot and post office. She remembers riding the train into Walton with her mom, and her father worked at the furniture factory in Walton.

Williams said she would use Jacques' knowledge of where people used to live as a way to try to find out information on properties for customers interested in genealogy.

Jacques was presented with a plaque thanking her for her years of service during the town board meeting Monday. She said she is looking forward to sitting in her chair and reading books and knitting an afghan for a great-grandchild that is due to be born in October.

Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221.