McDonald County Recorder Kenny Underwood enjoys his occupation as well as his avocations.
Underwood grew up in McDonald County and has deep roots here. He said five generations of his family have lived within five miles of Pineville. He graduated from high school in McDonald County and went to college at Missouri Southern State University, where he earned a degree in history.
After college, he returned to McDonald County and became a farmer and grocer, working for his father for 30 years. His father owned a grocery store on the Pineville square for many years. When his father closed the store, Underwood took a job with the county as a janitor.
At that time, Gene Hall, who was circuit clerk and ex officio recorder of deeds, decided to split off the recorder of deeds, Underwood said. The circuit clerk's office was very busy, and the recorder of deeds part of the office had become like a "stepchild," he said. The state wanted the county to have a full-time recorder of deeds independent of the circuit clerk's office.
After two years as a janitor, Underwood ran for office. He faced two opponents in the primary and one in the general election and won. That was 15 years ago.
When Underwood came into the office in 2005, they were keeping a paper index and a computer index and microfilming everything. The office records anything that affects a loan or property, and the housing market was hot at the time.
"It's time-consuming," he said of the different types of recording. "When I started we had so much work it was hard to get more than our day's work done."
Business was greatly reduced after the crash of 2008, he said.
In 2006 or 2007, he ran out of chemicals for the microfilm machine and could not get them anymore. He bought a machine that scanned and microfilmed at the same time. It cut down work tremendously, he said.
"Everything was digitized from 2001 on, but everything before that was in microfilm or a book," he said. "We started digitizing the land records," he said, noting they scanned them all the way back to the 1920s. This has made the office much more efficient, he said.
In addition to keeping land records, the recorder's office sells marriage licenses, records military discharges, and records state and federal tax liens.
Underwood said his two passions in life are preparing food and traveling.
"I do love my job. My job makes the rest of it possible," he said.
He cooks for 60 to 85 people on some Wednesday nights at his church, Pineville Christian Church.
"I like to feed the kids. I like to see them enjoy food," he said.
He and his wife, Kathy, make cinnamon rolls for fundraisers. They donate their time, and anything raised above the cost of the ingredients, the fundraising group gets to keep.
He and Kathy have traveled extensively. They visited the 48 continental United States with their two sons. They have been to destinations like New Orleans, Miami Beach, Orlando, Alaska, Nashville, Hawaii, Canada, New York and Washington D.C., to name a few.
General News on 01/23/2020