Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Lowndes County is celebrating forty years of stability in administration this month as Jacquelyn Jones Thomas recently received recognition for forty years of outstanding and dedicated service to county government in Alabama with the Lowndes County Commission. This recognition was given by the Association of County Administrators of Alabama at their annual conference held in May.

“This is a milestone and I am very proud to receive this honor,” Thomas said, who has served as the Lowndes County Administrator since May of 1982. “Not many administrators reach forty years and I am so thankful to God that he has allowed me to have a reasonable portion of my health and strength to still be here at forty years. I give all the glory to Him.”.

Thomas began her career in administration after graduating from Tuskegee University in 1979. After working for the Lowndes County Board of Education and in a secretarial role for the Emergency Management Agency, she was asked to fill the administrator’s role for Lowndes County.

Like many administrators, Thomas wears many hats. Some of the daily duties of her office include administration of payroll for the county commission and making sure the bills for the highway department, tax assessor, tax collector, and probate judge’s office are paid.

“I serve at the pledger of the county commissioners and on a day to day basis, I handle everything in the commission office,” Thomas said. “I have clerks and assistants but if the commissioners need something done they are going to call me and I have to make sure it gets done.”

During the forty years that Thomas has served, she has learned many lessons and has allowed her faith to sustain her through the difficult times.

“It’s not an easy job and you have to pray a lot,” said Thomas. “You have to do the best you can and have a good attitude. Even when people are rude, you still have to be pleasant. To hold a position like this and to keep a sane mind, you have to pray a lot. God is good. He has kept and sustained me and I thank Him for it.”

There have been many notable accomplishments for Thomas over her forty-year career, but one of the most notable was the ability to implement the one time pay increases for the county employees that are distributed each November. These increases are designed to ease the financial stress of the holiday and to help employees purchase Christmas gifts for their families.

The employees are so grateful to get a little bit of extra money at Christmas time,” Thomas said.

Thomas has recently been asked about her plans for retirement, but at the present time she is not sure retirement will be in the near future.

“I have had many people ask me when I am going to retire but I don’t know. Whenever the Lord tells me it’s time to retire, He will let me know. Until then, I will be here,” Thomas confirmed.