After 48 years, Deputy Recorder and Office Manager Debbie Trout is calling it a day. At Thursday’s retirement ceremony at the Butler County Courthouse, she bid farewell to the job she has performed since 1976.
The commissioner’s meeting room had been transformed with decorations, a cardboard cutout of Elvis, a sign that read, “Debbie has left the building,” and a plaque granting her, “a license to chill.”
“It’s time,” she remarked with a smile.
Trout was just 18 years old when she applied for the position.
When she got the job, Robert Seifert told her, “Ok I’ll hire you, but you’ll never stay.”
Forty-eight years later, Trout credits the hard work ethic she learned from her parents, Donnie and Betty Hornbeck, for her success and perseverance. Butler County Commissioner Vince Lampe presented her with a proclamation as a measure of appreciation for all her years of service.
“We congratulate her for a job well done,” Lampe said.
As part of the presentation, he informed those in attendance that henceforth May 30 will be known as Debbie Trout Day in Butler County.
Butler County Emergency Manager Robbie Myers said, “I really appreciate all the hard work she has put in over the years.”
Attorney Chad Parks joked, “Nobody’s been fixing my mistakes more than Debbie...I’m really going to miss you.”
Courthouse employee Sheila Leutert worked with her in the recorder’s office from 1982-1993.
“She taught me a lot,” she noted.
“My church and this place is my family,” Trout stated.
After the speeches, the packed room filled with applause and congratulations from her courthouse family.