Deputy clerk honored for years of service

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

She had two job offers on the same day many years ago – one to be a children’s librarian at Brumback Library and the other to become a deputy clerk at Van Wert County Probate and Juvenile Court.

Lynn Simson chose the latter and has stuck with it ever since.

On Tuesday, county officials, courthouse employees and co-workers and others gathered for an open house on Tuesday to congratulate Simson on 50 years of service to the county.

Simson explained she worked for the county auditor one summer during high school then was a senior when she went to work for then-Judge Catherine Harrington.

“She was one of only two women to graduate with her law class, so she was quite a groundbreaking attorney and then judge,” Simson said.

Her familiarity with Harrington was what swayed Simson to choose Probate and Juvenile Court for employment. According to Court Administrator Suzi Kallas, Simson spends 99 percent of time as a deputy clerk for juvenile court.

Looking back over her time with the county court, Simson noted there have been many changes.

“Going from handwritten books – every document that I typed had to also be handwritten into a docket, then it was typed again into a journal, so I actually typed the original entry as well as hand writing it, so I handled the document three times,” Simson explained. “Judge Harrington did not type so I typed her entries for her. Learning to read a judge’s handwriting is challenging, any judge, because I’ve worked for three of them.”

“With the number of cases we have now, I don’t think we could have done it the old way,” she added.

She noted there are many more child support and custody cases now than when she started and she said another big change has been court costs.
“A marriage license was $2.15 when I started and now they’re $45,” Simson said.

While many people don’t care for change, Simson said change is one of her favorite things about the job that she’s held for decades.

“There’s something new every time you turn around,” she stated. “We have to keep up with our training – some classes are online some are in-person and they help you learn the new way of doing things. We’re moving toward e-citations for traffic now so the officers don’t have actually have to drop off a physical ticket. They’ve been doing that in muni court for awhile now but there’s computers to change and things like that.”

Simson had nothing but praise for the people she works with, present and past.

“The people are great,” she said. “I’ve worked with some wonderful people, not just from this town but when you go to the deputy clerk convention you make friendships outside of the office and that helps when you have to call to transfer cases. It’s nice to know the people.”

As far as retirement, Simson did say it’s something she’s pondered retiring sometime in the next year, but she hasn’t set a date yet.

“I’m still in relatively good health and I’d like to enjoy a little bit of my retirement,” she said.