‘Golden Girl’ Shines in Assessor’s Office

It’s Friday at the Orange County assessor’s public counter. Amid cabinets, piles of property rolls on hard copy as well as those stored on computer disks sits Evelyn Throneberry. The legend.

At 81, Throneberry is the oldest person in the assessor’s office and a proud member of the “Golden Girls,” a pool of 18 retirees who are paid to answer the public’s questions part-time by telephone.

Known as Evie to her friends and workers, she plucks factoids at will, and there isn’t a question about your county property notice she can’t answer, though she readily refers sticky questions about valuation up the ladder to an appraiser.

She does so cheerily, in her buttery, oh-so-Southern Tennessean accent.

A word of caution, though. Don’t tell her you think you know more than she. One caller did. And what ensued was more like a prize fight.

Both champions weaved and bobbed until the caller delivered a hard blow when he said in a sermon-like tone, “Of course I’m right!” He said he was 72 years old and had lived in the county nearly longer than Madame Modjeska. Who was she to tell him he was wrong?

Silence.

Then, like a steam locomotive leaving the station, Throneberry retorted: “How old did you say you are? Let me tell you something! I’m 81 years old and I’ve been here longer than you. . . . You don’t need to take that tone with me, MISTER.”

Evie: One. Caller: Zero.

Throneberry began her career as an office worker in 1962 and retired in 1978. She returned two years later on a part-time basis. In all, she’s been at the assessor’s office about 36 years.

Office managers such as Steven Harness said Throneberry and other retirees are a blessing in disguise. “One of the best things about having retirees,” Harness said, “is that an older woman’s voice is the best way to calm down an angry guy.”

Of course, there’s no scientific evidence to back up Harness’ theory. But his boss, newly elected Assessor Webster J. Guillory, is a believer in gray power and continues the practice of employing former staff workers, 65 years and older.

The county couldn’t determine quickly last week exactly how many retirees are employed in county government. But, like John Glenn, who last November made a return trip to space as the first senior-citizen flight-crew member, these folks are not ready to stop working.

“The more active we are and more involved we remain, the greater quality of life we have,” said Peggy Weatherspoon, director of the county’s Area Agency on Aging. “To be able to work, doing something you love, having meaning, makes all the difference in your life and your health.”

One in eight seniors between 70 and 74 works full- or part-time, according to 1997 data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That number does not include volunteers.

In Orange County, there are nearly 400,000 residents ages 60 and older, Weatherspoon said.

Throneberry is quick to note she’s not the only golden girl in the assessor’s office and praises co-workers in their 60s and 70s, including Margaret Riggs, Jan Miller and Joan Larson.

They are part-timers who are called at home when needed for work. They are paid about $13.70 an hour and, in the case of Throneberry, are limited to 750 hours per year. The retirees fill in on days when public calls go up, easing the burden on full-time employees.

“I live on a pretty fixed income,” said Throneberry, whose husband, Stan, died seven years ago. “It gives me extra spending money for activities, like I’m planning to go to Las Vegas with friends in March.”

Throneberry said the job keeps her keen. An avid reader, she can hold conversations on everything, from rock music to virtual poker. Sometimes those closest to her, such as relatives, believe she’s “fragile granny.”

“They think I’m a little old lady who doesn’t know anything,” she said.

She gave up driving a car several years ago and relies on public buses for transportation. On work days, she awakens at 5 a.m., eats, dresses and leaves her Irvine residence before 7 a.m. for the first of two buses. She arrives at the main bus depot in Santa Ana, walks over to the assessor’s office and is at her desk by 8:15 a.m.

“I love working here. It’s fun. I mean, where else would you get a person asking if they can get a homeowner’s exemption for a Seadoo? That’s what one caller asked. He thought Seadoos were classified like RVs or something and wanted a homeowner’s exemption!”

As for those complicated supplemental tax bills the assessor sends by mail, Throneberry has choice words: “I tell you, if I didn’t work here, I’d think some nut was putting those out. They are confusing.”

She said she intends to work as long as the office will have her.

“That will be a long time,” Harness said. “People like Evie are phenomenal. They can use a computer, but the database they’re operating off of is between their ears.”