In January 2016, at the age of 62, Pam Savell began a third career. She says this with pride as she discussed her administrative assistant position with the Simpson County Sheriff’s Department.
Savell completes all the tasks, such as answering phones and greeting and/or directing those who walk into the SCSD. But her job involves much more than that. Savell handles the paperwork for civil processing; manages Sheriff Paul Mullins’ agenda and works as part of the system of checks and balances for monies that come in through the jail and accounts payable in the SCSD. At times she is a sounding board when someone needs to vent.
Prior to entering the work force again, she and husband Charles had been poultry farmers for 20 years. Five years after closing the farm Pam said they were bored. “I was led by the Spirit that this was a job I needed to do. I was contacted and asked if I wanted the job. I prayed about it and it was ‘yes, this is your job.’ It’s been a good thing. The Lord has blessed me through this.”
Savell’s faith is very strong and evident in her job with the SCSD. She wondered if she could even do the job after being away from the work world for 25 plus years. But God was faithful, Savell says, and He showed her what to do and how to do it.
She says there is a family atmosphere among her co-workers at the Sheriff’s Department. Savell loves her job, where she works eight hour days Monday through Friday. She comes in early to unlock doors, adding, “Sometimes it’s good to have an elderly person around! We don’t have the responsibilities at home with children that other people do and we can fill in the gaps.”
Savell, now 71, has no plans to leave her position. “There’s purpose…you’ve got to have purpose in life and there’s purpose in this job. This is a place of correction. A lot of people that come in here are not happy. But the good Lord says in His Word that He loves justice. You have to be corrected if you get out of hand. And you’ve got to administer that with love and God’s mercy and His grace.”
Savell’s love for her position and the people she works with is clear. Because she is older, she says she thinks of many of them as her children. “We’re a lot like family here. We love each other. This is unusual from anything I’ve ever seen – the kindness we show one another here. We’ve got a group of ladies that work wonderfully together. We’re always here for one another.”
There is not one thing about the position of administrative assistant that Savell likes better than the other, she says, but she does prefer to stay busy through the day. Long days result when it is quiet without much to do. Summer is a slower season but the work picks up in the fall.
The worst part of her job, she says, is to see people fall so far away from discipline. “It hurts to see them like that but it increases your prayer life.”
When Savell was 50, Psalm 92:14 became very relevant to her and is even more now in these later years. “They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing” (NKJV).
“I think these are the best of days. You’ve experienced, you’ve learned. You’re at peace, you’re more relaxed. Having a job helps. I’ve got somewhere to go and something to do around a great group of people.”
