On July 10, MEOC Board members and staff
helped longtime MEOC employee Jean Rhoton celebrate her retirement. Jean first came to work for MEOC in 1980.
A wonderful advocate for the elderly, Jean will be sorely missed.
Jean and Board members Joe Smiddy and A. J. Hatmaker were all smiles for
this picture, but it is indeed with a good deal of sadness that we bid farewell
to Jean and wish her a peaceful, restful retirement.
She deserves it!
Jean wore many hats while at MEOC and
wore each beautifully. She came to MEOC first as a homemaker and ended her
career at MEOC as Coordinator of MEOC’s Life Line Program. In between, she
worked as an outreach worker and case manager.
Staff surprised Jean with a luncheon
including a special musical salute to her put together and performed by “The
Gap Boys” who bore a striking resemblance to MEOC staff members Julia Dillon,
Teresa Shoop, Linda Begley and Janet Hampton in drag. Margaret Sturgill
assembled pictures of Jean taken over the past twenty-seven years in to a
wonderful power point, which she presented at the luncheon. Various staff
members reminisced about Jean’s service to MEOC and the thousands of older
people who have benefited from her kindness and compassion.
In presenting Jean with her retirement
gift, MEOC Executive Director Marilyn Pace Maxwell said, “Jean’s loyalty and
devotion to MEOC, her colleagues and the older people of our region were always
constant and never doubted. She always put others before self. She knew what it
meant to be a public servant and demonstrated it daily for twenty-seven years.
Several of us have had the pleasure to work with Jean during her entire tenure
at and we are all made better by our association with her. We will miss Jean and
wish her only the best”.
