After 20 years in office, Angie Gibbs will officially retire as Chancery Clerk for Clarke County. She has truly loved her job over the years and will definitely miss being able to interact with people each day.
“The most exciting part is the people that come in,” stated Angie. “I’m going to miss them a lot. I love the public.”
While she loves her job, there are parts of it that have been difficult over the years.
“I guess the worst part of it is my mental commitments,” expressed Angie. “It’s always sad because you can only do so much for the public that the state allows you.”
She had always wanted a job at the courthouse and worked hard to get the position. Experience from her previous jobs proved to be helpful when she first took her position as Chancery Clerk.
“I tried for years to get a job here. I said I’d just run for it. I ran against Mrs. Joyce in ’99, and it was a real close race. Then, I came back in 2003 after she retired,” explained Angie. “The years at all my other jobs came into play when I got here. I’d flip a job in a minute back when I was younger. I opened up Paulding Cable Company in Jasper County. Then, I came back and opened First State Bank with Mack Stephens, and then I worked at Harmony Water. Everything played into here.”
When it comes to her success over the years, Angie gives the credit to the ones who have diligently worked with her.
“Don’t ever forget that your employees make you,” proclaimed Angie. “I have to say that I’ve had some good employees through the time of 20 years.”
Since taking office, there have been many changes.
“Things have changed a lot over the years. On election year, we’re always just overrun with people, and it’s like the community has backed off a little bit. It’s expensive to run and is a 50/50 chance that you’re either elected or you’re not,” informed Angie. “I’ve lost a lot of friends since I’ve been here in 20 years. I had some very dear friends, and that hurts too. There was Covid. It took a lot of people—friends and loved ones.”
Although she has loved her job, she has decided that she doesn’t intend to run again, making this her last year in office. She simply feels that the time has come to retire and enjoy life with her family.
“I just don’t want to give my weekends up anymore. Life is short,” declared Angie. “When you reach a certain age, your parents are aging and you’ve already lost one, you just need to spend time with them. If you’ve ever lost a spouse, you know that time is limited. Since I’ve remarried, I just want to spend time with him and do things. This is a very stressful and time consuming job. It has a lot of duties to it. You almost have to be here because this is the only true fee based office, meaning you have to make the money to pay your staff. If you don’t, then you have to borrow it. If you can’t pay them, then you can’t pay yourself. It’s a little more complicated than all the other jobs.”
She will enjoy this last year in office interacting with everyone who walks in. Her office has a lot of responsibilities keeping up with everything, but Angie intends to continue to do her best to serve the public who has elected her for the five terms she has served.
