ORAN WOMAN AT AGENCY FOR 60 YEARS

SIKESTON -- Her cheery smile and pleasant voice have been welcoming people at the Rural Economic and Community Development office for at least 60 years.

Elvira Metz celebrated her 60th anniversary with the government office on July 1, which gives her the record for longest employment by a government agency on both the state and national levels.

"I didn't think I'd stay this long," Metz said. "The years have gone by in a hurry."

And during that time, the agency has changed names several times, but Metz always stuck with the job.

When she began working in 1934, the office was known as the Relief Commission. It became the Resettlement Administration in July 1935 and then the Farm Security Administration in 1937. For 48 years, the office was known as the Farmers Home Administration.

It became the Rural Economic and Community Development office in 1994, although the sign hanging outside still reads Farmers Home Administration.

When the agency began operating, it made loans to farmers but has grown to accommodate community development projects.

The name changes have caused some confusion in the office. "It's a mouthful over the phone," Metz said. One woman even told her that she almost went to sleep during the long phone greeting.

Metz, who lives in Oran, has also held many different jobs over her career. She is now the district program technician. In the past, her duties have been clerk, secretary and stenographer.

When she first started at the agency, there wasn't always enough money to get paid. So, Metz would quit every Saturday afternoon and then be rehired on Monday morning.

"Every now and then I worried about getting rehired," Metz said. "It took them a while to get the budget set up."

Metz began working for the federal government in 1935, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture began overseeing the agency.

For her 50th anniversary celebration, she was invited to Washington.

All USDA employees who had worked for at least 46 years were invited, she said. Among them she was the only one who had worked for 50 years.

"They asked me if I enjoyed the trip and I said I liked it so much I would try for 60," she said, adding that she had no intent of actually staying that long.

But on July 6, State Director Bill Shay presented Metz with a plaque recognizing her 60 years of service. A statewide ceremony is being planned in August.

When District Director Gary Capps came to the office in 1965, Elvira Metz' work impressed him and still does.

Capps had written a letter to a client and walked out of his office to retrieve the file.

"I went to get the file and handed her the letter and by the time I walked by, she handed me a finished letter," Capps said.

Although Metz doesn't know her typing speed, Capps says she's "faster than lightning."

Metz enjoys the variety of her job. Her duties include preparing correspondence and reports, as well as completing the paperwork for an occasional foreclosure.

Although Metz has worked for 60 years, she has no plans of retiring.

"I'll stay as long as they'll keep me," she said.