PEA RIDGE — She’s calling it quits.
Shirley Anthony said she can’t be talked out of it this time.
“I’ve set a goal - Aug. 30,” Shirley Anthony said, a smile on her face. She’s retiring after nearly 21 years at the same job - secretary at Starner Tax Service. “No,” she said, she won’t stay until the anniversary date of Oct. 1. At 71 years of age, Anthony said she’s retiring “because I’m tired.”
“When we started out, it was just me and him (Tim Starner, accountant and business owner) and I certainly didn’t do taxes. He didall the taxes,” Anthony said. “I’ve always told people I’ll do anything but windows.
“I did bookkeeping and payroll.”
In the early 1980s, Anthony and Tim Starner, her current boss, worked together at P.A.M. Transport, a Tontitown-based trucking company. He was chief financial officer and she said she sometimes typed items for him. “Then I moved over to Fisher Trucking. In 1990, he (Starner) decided to go into business for himself.
“He remembered me because God reminded him of me,” she said with a grin.
Anthony said Fisher Trucking had filed for bankruptcy and “allthe girls in there were panicking.
They would say ‘Shirley, what are going to do?’ and I would say ‘I don’t know, but the Lord will take care of me.’
“He (Starner) called and hired me,” she said resolutely.
A native of Booneville, Ind., Anthony went to work as a waitressright out of high school. “I was making 42 cents an hour,” she said.
She moved to California at the urging of an older brother and his wife because there were supposed to be better work opportunities there.
“I met my husband there.
Three weeks later, we were married. That lasted 25 years,” she said. He was in the military.
For the next 25 years, the Anthonys moved around the country. “By the time we were married 19 years, I’d had 26 jobs,” she said, explaining that because military pay was not enough for the family, every time they moved, she sought a job. She said she has done everything from taking in ironing to Civil Service work for the federal government.
When her husband retired from the military, the couple moved to Pea Ridge, a place they had visited because his mother lived here.
“We fell in love with Arkansas.”
Later, the couple divorced, but Shirley stayed while he moved away. She now has four grandchildren, all of whom have either attended or do attend Pea Ridge schools - Eric Anthony, 21; Jase Sharp, 18; Jessica Anthony, 15; and Jennifer Anthony, 13. Jase, a 2011 PRHS graduate, is a Marine recruit in South Carolina.
“I never had time to do anything but work and take care of family,” she said.
In 1994, Anthony wrote a column entitled Pea Ridge Notes for The Times.
Although she has had many different jobs, she said her favorite has been her job with Tim Starner.
“In my position, I did bookkeeping and payroll. I love people. People are my passion.
They get to feeling like family when they come in year after year.
“I’ve seen smart-aleck teenagers grow up, who I thought there was no hope for. Now, they’re grown up with children. They’re wonderful guys,” she said. “You get attached to the people who come in every year.”
When Starner Tax Service first began in Pea Ridge, Anthony said Tim Starner bought two tax services - one in Rogers and the other in Pea Ridge.
“He would do the taxes at both places. When he was at one place, I was at the other.
The next year, we moved everything up to Pea Ridge.”
The company has grown, both in the number of clients and employees. Clients are from several states, many were residents here who continue to send their taxes to Starner even though they live far away.
“He’s (Starner) a reallygood people person,” she said, adding that he once told her people tend to be loyal to their doctor and their accountant.
The business has grown from a few hundred employees the first few years to many times that now and from the two of them to as many as 11 employees during the busiest season of the year.
From January to April 15, Anthony said she works six days a week as many as 10 to 12 hours a day, but during the rest of the year, the office is only open three days a week.
“I’m still trying to clean up the mess around my desk,” Anthony said, hoping she doesn’t leave the mess behind for Donna Henry, who will replace her.
As for retirement, she plans to crochet, cross stitch and travel, especially visiting relatives.
SAY GOOD◊BYE TO SHIRLEY A drop-in reception wil be held from noon to 4 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 30, at Starner Tax Service, South Curtis Avenue, to bid farewell to Shirley Anthony.
News, Pages 1 on 08/24/2011