Gloria Martin, Grantsville

GRANTSVILLE — Gloria Martin, town clerk and treasurer of Grantsville, is retiring after seeing eight mayors enter office, a myriad of changes and 44 years of service to the town.

“There is going to be some nostalgic moments, but it’s time to go,” said Martin, who is approaching 76. “I enjoyed the job and loved the people. I had really good people to work with.”

Mayor Paul Edwards said Martin is “very knowledgeable on the town,” helped to mentor him and was instrumental in getting him to the place he is today.

“It’s bittersweet,” said Edwards of Martin’s retirement. “It’s becoming more and more rare to find someone who has longevity and someone who is dedicated to a job for a certain amount of time and is not just putting in time.”

Martin said she thought about retiring before but just never followed through with it.

“She could have retired awhile back and she didn’t. She really cares about the town,” said Edwards. “I think it’s rare to find people who care that much about what they do anymore.”

Martin saw eight mayors come and go in office and one of her saddest memories was when Mayor Donald Swauger died in 1974.

Martin saw the town grow and change during her tenure. She mentioned a new industrial park and quite a bit of annexation.

“My dad had a little grocery store at the little crossing. I never knew it would become part of the town,” said Martin, who said it was annexed into the town two years ago. “Grantsville has changed a lot. I used to know everyone who walked up and down the street. It’s grown; when I first started working, the census figures were 498 and now they are 717 but I think it’s closer to 1,000.”

Martin’s duties as treasurer and clerk included taking care of all the accounts, water bills, taxes, prior to the county taking them over and writing grant requests. From 1969 to 1991, Martin performed all those duties at her house.

“I could stay home and raise my children and do my job at my own leisure,” said Martin.

Once a new office was built and computers came into the picture, Martin had to go into the office but she has always preferred doing accounting the old-fashioned way.

“Let’s just say, the computers could cause me to lose my religion,” said Martin. “I still say, to this day, give me a piece of paper and pencil and I can do it fast, if not faster than the computer.”

Martin doesn’t use a computer at home but suspects at some point she’ll have to give in and use one to pay her bills.

When Martin was younger, she used to watch her mom, who was a bookkeeper for the Casselman River Railroad, working and ask her questions about what she was doing. Martin graduated from Northern High School where she took accounting, went on to attend Frederick Community College for a year and then worked at a bank in Frederick for four years.

Robin Jones, town administrator, will take over Martin’s duties.

Upon retirement, Martin plans on completing all the little projects she has been putting off, spending time with her husband, Bill, and her grandkids.

Martin also plans on spending more time indulging in her passion for reading and sharing her library of more than 100 Christian books. She also plays the organ at both State Line United Methodist Church and St. Paul’s Methodist Church every Sunday.

Martin, who started working for the town in May 1969, retired on Monday.