Helen Brown says she’s ready for some “me time.” She also notes that she has nine grandchildren, so upon her retirement at the end of June, it’s going to be interesting to see how that time gets allotted.
Brown’s career at Community Electric Cooperative has reached its end after an amazing association of more than 35 years. During her three and a half decades at CEC, she has supported the cooperative’s member-owners as a clerk, a senior member services representative, a bookkeeper and, most recently, a junior accountant.
A Southampton native, she says she had an inkling when she started at CEC in September 1988 that it would present a good career opportunity. Her family received its electricity from Community Electric and, “from what I’d heard, I knew it was a good place to be.” She enjoyed the direct interactions she was able to have with member-owners for the majority of her career, as well as with colleagues who, like her, built lengthy careers at a business that long sought to sustain and nurture a family atmosphere.
“Helen is the best coworker and friend anyone could have asked for,” says longtime colleague Cindy O’Reilly, whose association with CEC spans 30 years. “She taught us that it’s important to take pride in your work and establish the legacy you will leave behind.”
One of the enduring memories that Brown says she will have is the “close-knit” nature of the cooperative’s staff, along with memories of how things changed with the evolution of technology.
“When I started, we didn’t have the computers and all this new technology,” she recalls. “When members would come in, we’d fill out the service order on paper and pass it on to operations. I’d balance out the cash drawer and manually record numbers on a sheet to close out the drawer.”
“Back then, we both needed roller skates,” O’Reilly says. “We didn’t have Smart Hub payments and the amount of auto-drafts we do now. The amount of mail the two of us could process was amazing!”
“Helen set, and has maintained, a high standard of performance and commitment throughout her years with Community Electric,” Cooperative President and CEO Steven A. Harmon says. “She has been a tremendous asset to our organization and our members. She will be missed, but we wish her and her family great things in their lives ahead.”
All told, Brown describes her career with Community Electric as “a great experience” – albeit one from which she’s ready to transition to a new chapter.
For the first few months of retirement, Brown intends to do “absolutely nothing” that doesn’t involve hitting the gym, spending time with grandchildren, napping, building puzzles and the like. Eventually, she anticipates devoting more time to volunteer work and other community-oriented activities. But for now, after 35 years of dedicated service to CEC’s members, that has to wait.
“I’m going to do whatever I want to do,” she says.