Treasurer retires ahead of election

Members of the Union County Quorum Court applaud Treasurer Debbie Ray for her service to the county on Thursday. (Caitlan Butler/News-Times)
Members of the Union County Quorum Court applaud Treasurer Debbie Ray for her service to the county on Thursday. (Caitlan Butler/News-Times)

After more than a decade in office, Union County Treasurer Debbie Ray retired on Thursday.

Ray has served as Treasurer since she was elected in 2010. Before that, she was chief deputy to former Treasurer Linda Morgan, who passed away in February 2010.

"It feels good, but I miss them. I miss a lot of my friends, but it'll get better," Ray said on Friday. "My husband's been retired -- it'll be two years in two months -- and he was ready for me to come home."

Ray received a grand send off at the courthouse on Thursday, first with a standing ovation from members of the Union County Quorum Court during their regular meeting that day, and later with a retirement party, where other workers from various offices housed in the courthouse celebrated her long career with gifts, cookies and fellowship.

Public service and poultry farming

Ray began her career at Lion Oil, working in the office that was formerly housed at First Financial Bank in downtown El Dorado. She said she spent about seven years there before the company changed hands and a friend recommended that she apply for a job at the courthouse.

"I was a deputy for Judge Edwin Alderson. They had the municipal court where we handled small claims," she said.

She worked for Alderson for another seven years before she was called to come home, where she and her husband Tommy had their own business -- raising chickens for Conagra.

"I ran four chicken houses where we grew 300,000 chickens a year," she said. "Conagra wanted someone to be at home, and I made less money than my husband so I came home."

Working at home also gave Ray the opportunity to be close while she raised her two sons, she said.

"I was working, just doing a different type of job," she said.

The Rays raised chickens for 24 years, from 1980 through 2004, with Debbie walking them every day, along with everything else chicken farming entails, from 1990 through 2003.

It was in 2001 that Ray first had a calling to return to work at the courthouse -- literally.

"Linda Morgan had been calling me in 2001, 2002... She called in 2003 and told me she wouldn't call again if I didn't come back," Ray recalled with a laugh. "She knew me from working in municipal court... She said she knew my work ethic and that I would probably do good. I loved working with numbers."

Ray returned, now as a deputy to the Treasurer, that same year, and she and her husband shut down their poultry farm in 2004, shortly after Pilgrim's Pride purchased the Conagra chicken operations in El Dorado.

She worked closely with Morgan, who she said was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, when she asked Ray to make plans to run for the elected office and began preparing her to take on the role of a county official. Ray ran unopposed in 2010 and has served since then.

"I was her chief deputy and I was basically running the office -- she wasn't able to come to work a lot that last year," Ray said. "She had asked me to run; she had planned on helping me, we'd talked about it. It was very, very sad when she passed. We were pretty close, I really liked working for her and I learned a lot from her."

Twelve years later, Ray has kept the county's finances organized, helped make sure workers get paid and more, and now she's ready for family time.

"I loved what I did. I loved serving the citizens of Union County, loved working with the Quorum Court," she said. "And I retired with the county and will draw a pension from them, and Social Security."

"I was trying to make this my last year," she continued. "We like to camp a lot. My grandchildren will be here tomorrow from Louisiana... It's time for family time."

'Will be missed'

Wearing a tiara and sash, Ray was asked on Thursday to address the Quorum Court one last time. She became emotional as she thanked Justices of the Peace for working with her over the years and sought to assure them that her chief deputy, Lexie Kelley, had the office under control.

"I just want to say, it's been an honor and a privilege to be the county treasurer for the last 11 years, five months. My husband retired, it'll be two years ago this June. He wanted me to retire last year at the end of the year, and I told him I couldn't," she said. "I love each and every one of you and I hope God takes care of this county. Thank y'all so much for working with me."

As her voice shook, JPs stood and clapped for Ray, along with others who attended Thursday's meeting.

That afternoon, courthouse workers gathered in the hall between the county Assessor and Collector's offices to throw Ray a retirement party.

"She's very sweet and caring. She's taught me everything I know," Kelley said Thursday afternoon. "I've been with her for almost seven years... I'm going to miss her a lot."

Misti Conley, another deputy in the treasurer's office, worked with Ray for three years and echoed Kelly's sentiments.

"It's been great. She's very educated in her position and we are terribly going to miss her, but she has instilled a lot of knowledge in Lexie and I," Conley said. "She's a good person to work for. I'm very happy for her... but she's going to be missed."

Karen Scott, who was elected to serve as Union County Collector in 2018, said Ray has helped her adjust to being an elected official.

"Where to begin? She's been a blessing in my life," Scott said. "So sweet, so generous, kind, helping. She's going to be missed."

Jody Cunningham, administrative assistant to the county judge, agreed.

"She's a gem," she said. "She will be missed."

Election

Ray's retirement came days before a new Treasurer will be elected to serve Union County.

On Thursday, JPs unanimously approved a resolution accepting her retirement. Union County Judge Mike Loftin was absent that day, but is expected to appoint a successor to fill out the remainder of Ray's term for JPs to vote on next month.

Before then, local voters will have the opportunity to select a new Treasurer out of two candidates who filed to run for the office: Kelley and Cunningham, who will face off in the Republican primary election set for Tuesday, May 24. No Democrats filed to run for the office, so the primary race will decide who the next Treasurer will be.

Ray, a wonk when it comes to the county's finances, detailed just a handful of the intricacies of the Treasurer's job. The Treasurer is responsible for the disbursement of all county funds, which includes everything from taxes collected to fines charged to commissions earned and more.

Now that she's out of office, Ray said she's looking forward to a trip she and her husband have planned, to visit some of the country's most famous National Parks, including Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks and other sites.

"There's a lot we haven't seen. We're trying to go once a year and see all the national parks before we get too old," she joked.

She said she hopes whoever wins next week's election cares about the county as much as she has.

"I just want to make sure that the next Treasurer that comes in there cares as much about the county as I do. I made a lot of friends up there and I'm going to miss them, but really was concerned about the county," she said. "You don't want your county to get in bad shape and we worked really hard to make sure that didn't happen."

photo Debbie Ray opens gifts during her retirement party at the Union County Courthouse on Thursday. (Caitlan Butler/News-Times)
photo Courthouse employees attend a retirement party for Debbie Ray, left, on Thursday. (Caitlan Butler/News-Times)

Upcoming Events