Town clerk retires
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
TRUDIE BUCK, right, officially retired last Friday as the Mapleton town clerk. After 36 years on the job, Buck said she’s looking forward to spending more time with her family. Congratulating Buck on her retirement is Town Manager Martin Puckett.
MAPLETON – When Trudie Buck turned off her computer and pushed in her office chair last Friday, she did so for the last time. Buck, who has been the town clerk in Mapleton for 36 years, officially retired Aug. 27.
“It was getting to be a little bit of a drag coming to work though I was all right after I got here,” she said. “I feel that this is right. The thought has come to my mind several times over the past year, but it would leave me. About two months ago, the thought of retiring started again and it stayed.
“I’ve got my health and I’d like to enjoy my family and my home. My husband, Clyde, and me have three children and four grandchildren. All the kids are in southern Maine; it’s close, but when you’re working and have only a weekend to get down and back, it isn’t. I enjoy watching the grandkids play sports and I’m looking forward to that,” said Buck. “I’m also the caretaker for my Dad, Wendell Coffin, so I’m busy. He turned 88 in June and does quite well, but I help get his meals and take him to his appointments. I’ll have more time for my family being retired.”
The Mapleton native, who graduated from Mapleton High School in 1962, originally had aspirations of becoming a nurse.
“I never really wanted to be a town clerk,” she said. “It just sort of happened; I didn’t even apply for the position. It was in 1974, and Mapleton and Castle Hill were together at that time and they had voted that Chapman would join them. There was just the town manager and one clerk. We were located by the millpond in a house that Delance Lovely had built. They had used it as a town office.
“One of the selectmen had called me and said they were going to be looking for a girl to go in and help the clerk file Chapman paperwork and get organized and that it wouldn’t be for very long,” said Buck. “There was no interview or anything; it was just to be a short-time job.”
One thing led to another and Buck was then hired for 6-8 weeks through a municipal grant.
“Then we moved from Main Street to the Pulcifur Road because the new town office was going to be built,” she said. “Because of the move, the town needed some help getting everything organized and I had been here ever since.”
Technology has changed a lot since when Buck first started.
“I remember I had this old table that I worked on with a crank adding machine and a manual typewriter,” she said. “Of all the changes, I think the computer was the hardest for me [to grasp].”
Buck said she has especially enjoyed the people she’s worked with – and for – over the years.
“I’ve worked for some really nice town managers,” she said. “It’s been a good work crew, plus it’s been nice being close to home. Having lived in Mapleton my whole life, I knew everybody; then as time went on, I knew their kids and their grandkids. It’s been a good way to keep up with the community.”
While always striving for quality customer service, Buck said she would get frustrated from time to time especially when someone would call from a car dealership asking her to find out how much the excise tax would be on a particular vehicle.
“I guess indirectly I helped buy a vehicle for someone based on telling them which one was cheaper,” she laughed.
Town Manager Martin Puckett has nothing but high praise for Buck.
“Trudie has a great personality and really has what it takes to be a clerk. She has a great sense of humor and she’s really detail-oriented,” he said. “Trudie’s an icon in the town, and there’s a lot of history that she knows.
“[From the various paperwork I’ve been able to find] she has been the longest-serving town employee,” said Puckett. “When people come in looking for relatives, she can take a name and really piece it together. She knows the contacts in town, too. If people are looking for gravestones, Trudie’s the one who knows where they are and can also give some verbal history. She’s truly a fountain of information.”
Puckett has been the town manager in Mapleton for two years.
“I’ve learned a lot from Trudie,” he said. “I’ve learned customer service. She’s always very happy and starts the day with a ‘Good morning’ and a smile and is able to maintain that personality – even dealing with difficult situations – at a very high level and is always very pleasant.
“Trudie’s been very dedicated,” said Puckett. “If there’s a snow day, she’s always been here. You can count on her; she’s always been very reliable. There have been times when she’s issued hunting licenses or vehicle registrations from home or taken phones calls at home. She isn’t your regular town office employee. If there’s something to be done, she’s there to help out.”
Ironically, Buck isn’t the first one in her family to have ties to the Mapleton Town Office. Her great-grandfather, Wallace Waddell, was the town’s first manager.
“I also had an aunt, Eva McPherson, who was the town clerk for 29 years,” said Buck. “I remember once thinking, ‘Oh, if I could just beat Aunt Eva’s 29 years.’ I guess I have.”
Sue Bragdon, who had been the town’s deputy clerk, will be the new town clerk, while Sue Skidgell, formerly the assistant deputy clerk, has been promoted to deputy clerk. They started their new duties Monday. The town will now hire a new assistant deputy clerk.
