JACKSON – For the past six years, Kay Flythe has been the proverbial stage manager for the Northampton County Board of Commissioners and County Manager Wayne Jenkins.

Flythe made sure everyone was where they needed to be and had the items required for the meetings she coordinated to fit each person’s schedule.

She made sure the media had their packets at each commissioners’ meeting and greeted citizens with her signature warm smile.

Then there were the notes…lots of them, as each meeting she recorded and organized pages for public record.

On October 31, Flythe made that final bow and stepped out of her role as Northampton County Clerk.

In an interview a day after her retirement, Flythe was still in her seat as county clerk and her plans for retirement not yet solidified. She was filling in for new Northampton County Clerk Kimberly Turner, who is currently on maternity leave.

“Call me in six months,” Flythe quipped about her undecided plans. “I’m going to hide the alarm clock.”

Flythe has worked for the county for 26 years, her career beginning with Northampton County Department of Social Services in 1981. She moved into the county clerk’s position in 2001.

“I’m going to miss the people,” she said. “I had a good time…I kept on telling them (colleagues) to let me leave quietly.”

But it wasn’t so, as a small retirement party for was organized in the Milwaukee resident’s honor.

She described her retirement as “bittersweet” as her late husband is not here to share in the celebration.

While she’s not one for hobbies, one role she be paying more attention to in retirement is grandma. Flythe said she’s looking forward to spending time with her five grandchildren who range in age from two to 20.

“That’s my life right now,” she said.