Two longtime Monroe County Magistrate Court assistants fittingly will be retiring together at year’s end.
Associate Magistrate Court Judge Diane Williams and Magistrate Court Deputy Clerk Kathy Barfield have announced their retirements effective Dec. 31. Williams is currently the second-longest-tenured employee in Monroe County, having worked in the Magistrate office for just over 41 years while Barfield is stepping down after a 22-year stint in the Magistrate office.
Barfield said it was an easy decision to exit alongside Williams, whom she described as her “best friend.”
“I said I’m not staying past when Diane goes,” Barfield said. “We agreed, and we’re going out together.”
Williams said it made sense to leave at the end of 2020 because it marks the end of Monroe County Magistrate Court Judge Frank “Buck” Wilder’s latest four-year term. Williams said when Wilder was re-elected for a third consecutive four-year term earlier this year, he tried to persuade the two retirees to stay, but they declined.
Williams said, “Judge Wilder started begging us to stay because he said he had four more years. But I said, ‘I don’t think I can make it four more. I can maybe do another year.’ But it just came down to that it was time.”
Williams actually pre-dates Wilder in the Magistrate Court office, having been hired by then-Monroe County Magistrate Court Judge Albie Sutton in 1979. Williams said the Magistrate Court office was in the basement of the courthouse back then before moving to its current location next to the Georgia Public Safety Training Center (GPSTC) in 2000. Williams said it was common for citizens to walk right into the Magistrate Court office unattended in the days before courthouse security was strict.
“We thought we wanted out of the basement but when we got out of it, we missed it,” Williams said. “We did have some shady people coming down those steps. You never knew what they were gonna do. We had no security, but God protected us.”
Williams, whose maiden name was Strickland, grew up in Monroe County. After graduating from Mary Persons High School, Williams had several other jobs before being informed of an opening in Magistrate Court around the time she delivered the second of her two children.
“I came in not knowing anything,” Williams recalled. “I couldn’t imagine why people came in there (Magistrate Office) and paid on their E.W. Banks (Department Store) bill.”
As for Barfield, she came along nearly two decades later when Wilder was in his first of two stints as Magistrate Court Judge. Barfield, who was born in Long Island, N.Y. and grew up near Jacksonville, Fla., moved to Monroe County in the early 1980s when her husband Rick took a job at Plant Scherer. Barfield had been working for Forsyth dentist, Dr. John Bowcock, in the late 1990s when another local dentist, Dr. Clell Morris, told Wilder that Barfield was looking for another line of work. Like Williams, Barfield said she was a novice when it came to judicial matters.
“I knew nothing at all,” Barfield said. “I said, ‘I can’t type.’ And he (Wilder) said, ‘It’s easy. It’s easy.’ And I started. It was a godsend really because I met my best friend.”
Over the years, the two have shared Magistrate Court assistant duties, which include: handling garnishments and escrow accounts, talking with citizens, answering the phone, helping with first appearance hearings, printing paper documents, etc. As an Associate Magistrate Judge, Williams also issues warrants as well.
Wilder said of Williams: “She’s just great at her job. I’ve never had to worry one time about money, the budget. She’s probably one of the best stewards of money in the county.”
Wilder added that Williams might be sweet and kind, but she could be tougher than even he is in the courtroom when necessary. He remembered one instance where he walked in during the middle of a hearing as a male defendant cited for disorderly conduct was pleading his case. He saw Williams listening intently and nodding along with an understanding look. Wilder wondered if the defendant would get off lightly, but when it came time to issue a sentence, Williams handed down a $500 fine.
Wilder said he hired Barfield because he was seeking an employee whom he knew would want to stay and be effective for a long time.
“She’s very loyal, dedicated and patient with people,” Wilder said of Barfield. “She’s compassionate and very competent and capable in her job.”
Both Barfield and Williams said working in the Magistrate Court office could be difficult at times because some members of the public wanted no part of being in front of a Magistrate judge.
“They’re not in their best times when they come to see us,” Barfield said. “So we had to learn how to handle that. When we see them, they’re not glad to see us.”
But all of the stress was made easier by the laughter that Barfield described as a “self-defense.”
Williams said, “What we did do every day is we laughed. We laughed every day.”
“You have to,” Barfield added of the laughter. “We worked together so long that sometimes we’d come in dressed the same and know what each other’s thinking.”
Williams said some of the laughter centered about pranks they exchanged with longtime courthouse maintenance staffer Claude Webb. Williams said late one afternoon Webb fell asleep in a chair in their office. When it was time for them to leave, Williams turned out the lights and locked Webb inside the office (Webb had a key to get out). Another time, Williams left a rubber snake on the front door of the courthouse to scare Webb as retaliation for pranks he’d played on her.
“I kept waiting thinking he (Webb) was going to be next to enter,” Williams said. “And then I got scared thinking a customer was going to come. But I’ve opened my drawer several times and there’d be a rubber mouse or something. And they know I don’t like that. So I figured I’d get them back with a snake. But I was too scared he wasn’t coming right then.”
One unusual quirk of working in the Magistrate Court is that they both got to witness their fair share of weddings presided over by the Magistrate judge.
“We offered to sing, but they wouldn’t let us,” Barfield said with a laugh.
Williams said all of the fun and chaos added up to daily entertainment.
“We thought we’d seen it all and someone else would come up with something different,” she said.
While Williams worked for four different Magistrate Court judges (five if you count Wilder’s two stints), both Williams and Barfield said Wilder was their favorite.
“He’s easy-going and easy to work for,” Barfield said of her boss. “Once he knew what we were doing, he didn’t have to worry about it.”
Williams said with a laugh: “We were mad at him when he left the first time. He ditched us. And then he wants us to stay longer.”
Barfield said she already knows what her biggest focus will be in retirement. She plans to spend as much time as she can with her three grandchildren: Maddie, 12, Chip, 8 and Cori Jane, 6, who all live in Forsyth. Barfield also has a special day coming up as she and husband Rick will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in March 2021. The Barfields, who have three adult sons, Jody, Matt and Curt, have no regrets about staying put in Monroe County.
“The kids were in school, and we loved the schools here,” Barfield said of her long-ago move. “This just felt like home. We love it here.”
As for Williams, she said her two daughters, Lisa Garrison and Angela Williams, and four grandchildren, Ansley, 23, Ellie, 20, Austin, 19 and Maci, 10, all live elsewhere, either in North Georgia or in Southern California. Williams, who has been married to husband Tony for nearly 52 years, said she’s undecided on her retirement plans but said she wants to find local churches for which to do volunteer work.
Williams said, “That’s going to be my biggest obstacle is figuring out what to do every day.”
Barfield said since the duo has known for months they planned to retire at year’s end that they have had time to absorb the change.
“It’s going to be sad, but we’ve been dealing with that,” Barfield said.
Williams said she’s ready for someone else “to take the reins” and considers the experience of working for Monroe County for 41 years a blessing.
Williams said, “The only thing I can say is I always tried to do my best for God, not for man, because I have been blessed.”
In a manner befitting of two people who knew what each other was thinking after 22 years together, Barfield immediately echoed her best friend’s sentiment.
“Me too,” she said. “We really have been.”
