“West City’s Good Luck Charm” – Shirley Smith Set to Retire After Nearly Four Decades of Service

March 20, 2017 By Jim Muir Leave a Comment

Shirley Smith, who has been the Village of West City's Clerk since 1978, will be retiring on April 30th. (William McPherson, West Frankfort Gazette photo)

Shirley Smith, who has been the Village of West City’s Clerk since 1978, will be retiring on April 30th. (William McPherson, West Frankfort Gazette photo)

WEST CITY, IL (William McPherson- The Benton Gazette. Please click to read the entire story. Here is an excerpt) Shirley Smith, 79, has been West City’s good luck charm for nearly four decades. The West City Village Board accepted her retirement at the March board meeting. When Smith began her job as West City Village Clerk, there was only one fully paved road in the entire village—highway 14. Now nearly all of the roads are paved, and the tiny village is one of the most successful, business wise, in all of Southern Illinois. “It’s been amazing the changes that have happened in West City. There were no computers when I started—all the checks, vouchers were written out by hand. The minutes of the board meetings were written out by hand in a bound book,” she said as she pulled out one of the many file drawers in her small office to locate one of the original ledgers.

Filed Under: Featured, Slider, West City News

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