Dunklin County Clerk Carol Hinesly: "I've had 30 good years"

A fixture in the Dunklin County Clerk's office for three decades is leaving the office next week. Carol Hinesly began working at the courthouse in 1984 after getting some experience working with the books in Clay Township. "That helped me get this job," said Hinesly. "The whole time I was working at the township, I would constantly go to Billy Horner (then the county clerk), who was in the courthouse. I would call him a lot. He made me wiser on separating lots and directions for different parcels, trying to find a piece within a section."

Hinesly came to the county clerk's office part time at first, but in 1985 was hired full time. She credits Dixie Ross, who worked in the office 40 years, for teaching her what she needed to know. "If it wasn't for Dixie -- she really taught me everything I know. She let go of some of the things she was doing and let me work on new things. That's how you learn a lot of things in this office. You take on another job after you master one."

Hinesly obviously mastered many tasks over the years and saw even more changes. The biggest was going from handwritten records and carbon copies to computer technology. She admitted that the technology is a mixed blessing. "You had enough time then to write the back tax book. That can be very lengthy. You had to write delinquent taxes for all eight townships. Now with computers, we almost don't have time to get everything done. There's programs for everything, but the paperwork it takes to do everything has gone overboard," she said.

Looking back on three decades, Hinesly is proudest of how the office works with people. "We work hard to do our best. We go above and beyond what we're supposed to do. I'm proud of how we work as a team, and everything goes as smoothly as you can expect." She added that another proud accomplishment has been the introduction of voting machines, moving the county one more step in updating and streamlining how election days go.

For Hinesly, the work at the courthouse has been rewarding, and she will miss it. She is philosophical, however, on what occurred election day. "There's a purpose for everything. Maybe it's saying, okay, it's time to chill out and think about me for a change instead of getting up and putting in long hours."

To that end, Hinesly intends to do more traveling with her husband, Joe Mel. Particularly she looks forward to spending more time with members of her out of town and out of state family, including a son and grandchildren in Iowa. "Maybe it's meant to be because I miss not seeing my grandson, who is a good athlete, and granddaughter. She's a good singer. When you work, you've only got so much time you feel comfortable about being gone. It makes it hard."

As she works to clean out her office, her last few days as county clerk are no doubt bittersweet, but Hinesly is thankful to the people of Dunklin County for allowing her to serve. "They've been good to me," she said. "I appreciate them letting me have the job. We as elected officials are paid by Dunklin County taxpayers. I've been their employee. I've had 30 good years."