It is official. Longtime Town Clerk Linda McGregor is retiring after more than 30 years of service to Carroll County and the Town of Carrollton.
McGregor was honored with a reception at Carrollton Town Hall Sunday afternoon, and dozens of well-wishers packed the building for the occasion.
“I’ll still be around,” McGregor told the crowd. “I’m just a call away.”
McGregor has held the position of town clerk since the 1980s when it was a part-time clerical job that required keeping the minutes of the monthly board of aldermen meetings. Eventually, Carrollton Town Hall began opening daily until noon, and McGregor began collecting water payments. In 1993, when town hall was opened from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, McGregor became the full-time town clerk. She has been in that capacity every since.
A native of Winona, McGregor moved to Carrollton in 1963 after marrying Red McGregor. Red McGregor worked at The Conservative, and McGregor did as well before going to the Welfare Department, where she stayed from 1973 to 1984.
In a 2010 interview with The Conservative, McGregor said her neighbor, Beulah Smith, was at one time mayor of Carrollton. Smith asked McGregor if she would mind serving as town clerk. From there, she has been the longest serving town clerk in Carrollton history, according to current Mayor Pam Lee who searched the town’s minutes for verification.
In celebration of her retirement, Lee resented McGregor with a gift certificate to her favorite store, Hobby Lobby.
“This is the perfect gift for me,” McGregor said. “I could buy the whole store.
Active in the community, McGregor is a member of the Carrollton United Methodist Church where she serves as pianist.
Clint and Mary Gee attended Sunday’s reception. Mary Gee said her granddaughter Sazie Gee Craft always referred to Carrollton Town Hall as the “peppermint store.”
“Linda was always so sweet,” Mary Gee said. “She always gave out peppermints. [Sazie] would be disappointed when she came on weekends and the ‘peppermint store’ wasn’t open.”
