Since retiring in 2012, Margarette Mitchell of Anderson keeps busy by volunteering.
Mitchell grew up in Anderson and went to Anderson High School. She married a hometown boy, Rodney Mitchell, and they lived in the same house for 60 years. Two sons were born and raised in the home, Matt and Grant. They are each married with two children, and Mitchell has four great-grandchildren.
In 1960, Mitchell went to work for the Agriculture Stabilization Conservation Service (ASCS) as a clerk. The organization helped farmers with seeding their fields, digging ponds for their cattle and helped them with fertilizer. She worked there for 33 years. Later, she went to work for New-Mac Electric for 17 years in the billing department.
From 1980 to 2001 she and Rodney raised Christmas trees. Before that they had cattle. She said the Christmas trees were fun.
"People would come and cut their own. You met a lot of nice people coming and cutting their own trees," she said.
She would take a vacation in the summer when it was time to trim the trees. She said they do not grow in the nice shape they are when people buy them -- they have to be trimmed that way.
"It's a lot of work. You have to spray them with fire retardant and you have to trim them," she said.
Since retiring, she has volunteered for five years at the McDonald County Museum. She is also a board member of the McDonald County Historical Society.
She said she got into volunteering by going to a meeting at the old courthouse.
"They were looking for volunteers," she said. "I thought I had always worked for the public, so I started volunteering."
One of the board members wanted to know if she would like to be on the board, so she ran and got elected, she said.
"Our church (Anderson United Methodist Church) does meals on Thursdays to shut-ins," she said. "I help deliver the meals. I enjoy it because you see several people that you don't see but once a week."
She is a member and past president of Epsilon Sigma Alpha, a women's sorority that does charitable work.
She is also a member of the Red Hat Ladies, which is like a support group that takes people to their doctor appointments or provides a meal if someone in the family dies. They meet monthly, she said.
Mitchell is a member of the Anderson High School Alumni Association. She helped it organize in 1977, she said.
She said if people need transportation to the doctor, she takes them, because "you never know when you're going to need a turn."
"I just keep busy," she said.
General News on 07/11/2019