Minnie Roby never meets a stranger.
“That’s been me my whole life,” she said. “I don’t meet strangers.”
In July, Roby began working as the clerk of the Greenwood City Council.
“I’ve met a lot of people,” she said. “I’ve learned and am learning a lot about government and just how things work. It’s intriguing.”
Roby is a Greenwood native and a graduate of Amanda Elzy High School. She attended Mississippi Delta Community College.
“After graduating in ’80, I left (Greenwood),” she said. “I was gone for about 12 years.”
She moved back to be close to her elderly mother, and she had planned to relocate again eventually. “But after she passed, I had gotten comfortable,” said Roby. “So I ended up staying here.”
She worked for Hardware Distribution Warehouses Inc., formerly Henderson & Baird Hardware, for 24 years.
In 2017, her department at HDW was moved to Texas, so she left Greenwood to continue working for the business. She did so until HDW closed in 2019, and then she moved back to her hometown. She worked at Milwaukee Tool until July, when she was hired as clerk of the council.
She said she was immediately interested in the city job after seeing the listing.
“All of my later duties with HDW were in more of an administrative type of atmosphere,” she said. “So I knew anything outside of that would be outside my comfort zone.”
Roby has been enjoying her new job at City Hall these past few months.
“Being here, it’s a family feel,” she said. “It’s not a lot of people here. Everybody knows everybody, and everybody gets along.”
One of her main duties is taking minutes for City Council meetings. She also records any of the city’s resolutions, ordinances, bids and proclamations. All of this information has to be uploaded into a digital filing system, and she’s working on bringing the digital files up to date.
Her job can be challenging, but that’s no problem for Roby.
“I like that,” she said. “I like the sense of something that’s really going to have my adrenaline going. It’s not boring.”
Roby describes herself as a team player.
“Once I get my job down, I don’t have a problem being a team player and helping in other departments if necessary,” she said. “The busier I am, I feel like the better off I am.”
Wherever she works, she brings with her a saying her mother often repeated to her as a child.
“My mom used to always tell me, ‘No matter what you do in your life, give it your all,’” Roby said. “I’ve always used that as my approach to everything.”
Her love of God also is important to her. It’s evident to anyone walking into her City Hall office, which features many crosses and praying hands adorning her walls.
“I am a very spiritual person,” she said.
Roby has two children and three grandchildren, with whom she enjoys spending time. She also has a 2-year-old Chihuahua-dachshund mix named Chestnut.
“I never thought I would have a dog in my house,” she said. “I actually have a dog now that has steps to get in my bed.”
Roby said Chestnut is one spoiled pup: “He is rotten.”
In her spare time, Roby enjoys listening to music, reading, watching television and spending time with her grandchildren and Chestnut.
- Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7235 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
