Washington County Clerk of Courts Brenda Wolfe is retiring after 16 years. (Photo provided)

The Washington County Clerk of Courts is retiring after 16 years in the office.

Brenda Wolfe said her last day will be Jan. 3.

“It was just time,” Wolfe said. “I’ve got a total of 45 years here. I’m ready.”

Wolfe said someone told her she would know when it was time to retire and she did. She has enough years in the retirement system to make it a good retirement, she said.

Wolfe said she started in the clerk of courts title division in August 1979 and became the clerk of courts in 2009. She ran for clerk of courts because “being here this many years I’d been through three clerks,” she said.

“I just decided if I wanted to keep the office run the way I wanted it to run, I better step up to the plate,” she said.

Wolfe said she plans to do whatever she wants in retirement. She also has a list of things to do around the house for which she never had time.

“I don’t have any specific plans,” Wolfe said. “If I want to travel, I’ll travel.”

Several things were enjoyable about being clerk of courts, she said. Among those is the hours, she said.

“I (can) kind of come and go as I pleased,” she said. “It’s an experience. The work itself I’ve really enjoyed.”

She said there are two offices in the clerk of courts, the legal division on Putnam Street and the title division on Gross Street and she goes to both as part of the position and “it gave me a little bit more freedom as the clerk.”

Wolfe said she is going to miss “the interaction with all the people I’ve met, the camaraderie with everybody.”

The hardest part of being the clerk of courts for four terms has been keeping the offices staffed, according to Wolfe.

People come in and think they would enjoy the work and then it doesn’t always work out, she said.

“There was a lot of turn around over the years,” she said.

Alicia Cannon won the Nov. 5 general election and will be the next clerk of courts. She is the bailiff for Common Pleas Court Judge Mark Kerenyi, according to Wolfe, and she and Cannon have met and gone over some things about the office.

“I think she’ll do fine,” Wolfe said of Cannon. “As I told her, a lot of the way you learn the job is to listen to what people are saying.”

Wolfe does not plan on running for another office or getting a different job at this point, she said.

Wolfe’s teenage granddaughter lives with her and keeps her busy. She said she takes care of her house and spends time with her mother.

“That keeps me busy,” Wolfe said.

Wolfe has no plans to leave Washington County for retirement, she said. She grew up in New Matamoras and lives in Newport.

During her time in office, Wolfe said she has learned from her employees that there are a lot of different personalities that you have to learn to deal with as a clerk of courts.

She said she also learned “a lot of people don’t realize the extent of work that we actually do. There’s a lot of work that goes on in this office.”