City honors Roberts with retirement reception

“You will be missed” is a statement Susan Roberts heard over and over Thursday as the City of New Albany honored her on her upcoming retirement.

In fact the sentiment was widespread and strong enough that the phrase was engraved on a plaque presented to Roberts by Mayor Tim Kent.

For the past 14 years Roberts has been administrative assistant to Mayor Kent and also served as assistant city clerk.

That means if you had a complaint about a stray dog, wanted your garbage picked up, needed a yard sale permit, had some unspecified gripe or just wanted to talk to someone in City Hall, she was who you first talked with. And she would take care of you with calm, friendly efficiency. She also acted as a sort of traffic cop or conductor for the offices in City Hall, making sure messages were passed on and meetings were not missed.

Susan and her late husband, Roy Roberts, both graduated from Ingomar High School.

Early in their marriage they moved to the Nashville, Tennessee area where Roy worded for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Their son Justin was born in Tennessee.

They then moved back to Mississippi, where their daughter Jana was born. Jana is married to Brandon Edwards. They have two daughters Isabell (Izzy) and Harper.

Justin is now a builder and insurance agent here. Justin and his wife Emily have three children: a son named Cole and twin daughters, Maggie and Miley.

Susan went to work for the City of New Albany on April 14, 2006.

Before working for the city, though, Susan worked at BenchCraft. She worked in the accounting department and then was secretary to BenchCraft’s President Tom Cunningham until Cunningham retired. She then worked in the BenchCraft sales department.

She is planning to work in her garden a bit, sew some, maybe travel a little. But a new grandbaby is coming soon and that will be her main focus.

Her role as administrative assistant will be taken on by Allie Epting Spruill.