A salesman once asked Debbie Gentry what she did.
“I told him I was the Woodward County assessor, and he said, ‘I bet you don’t have very many friends.’ I looked at him and said, ‘as a matter of fact, I do,’” Gentry said.
The incident is only one of the situations Gentry has experienced over the 34 years she has worked in the county assessor’s office.
But it never changed her outlook on how she worked with the public.
“My thing is you always treat people with respect and smile,” she said. “Most people know I smile all the time.”
Indeed, fellow workers at the Woodward County Courthouse will soon miss that smile, because Nov. 30 will be Gentry’s last day as assessor. She is retiring.
Gentry was not always county assessor, though, she started working in the office March 1, 1976.
“When I started, I was low man on the totem pole,” she said. “I stayed with it and was first deputy for a number of years. The first deputy has the responsibility of the office when the assessor is gone.”
Back then, the assessor’s office assessed household property by hand.
“We would have piles and piles of calculator paper,” she said. “There was a lot of calculating ... . At that time we did everything by hand, posting all the entries.”
Now, everything is entered into computers, she said.
Gentry was appointed assessor in 1993.
“I’ve had to run for office every four years since then,” she said.
As the assessor, she has had to oversee six employees in her office.
She knows how to do all of their tasks, because she did them before becoming assessor.
One of the tasks is inspecting every piece of property every four years in Woodward County, she said, noting there are approximately 16,000 parcels that must be examined.
“We have to look at new houses being built and new construction also,” she said, noting her employees “are busy all the time.”
Also, throughout the entire year, any property sold is recorded at the Woodward County Clerk’s office and that information comes to Gentry.
Her office assesses the value of businesses, personal property, farm equipment, new homesteads, and more.
“All of the information has to be put in an abstract and be submitted to the Oklahoma Tax Commission,” she said, noting, “We actually run the tax roles. We certify the tax role abstracts to the county treasurer and that’s usually done in November.”
“We are now starting mapping,” she said. “Every parcel in the county is mapped out. I think there is more to this office than people realize.”
Gentry said she would miss the people she works with, but is excited about retiring.
“After 34 years, I’m ready,” she said. “But in a way, I feel sad about leaving, because Woodward is in such growth with a new convention center, a new jail, and wind farms coming in.”
“I’ve known so many people coming in to the office throughout the years,” she said. “I will miss that. I’ll also miss people who work in other offices in the courthouse. Everyone gets along here.”
One of the things she plans to do upon retirement is get married.
She has been engaged for 17 years to Nick Louthan, the mayor of Seiling.
“We’ve always had a long distance relationship,” she said.
She also plans to spend time with her grandchildren and continue her service with the many boards she serves on, such as the United Fund, Crystal Christmas, Classic Bowl and the Woodward Industrial Foundation.
Of course, there will be travel, she said, noting, “There are lots of places I want to see.”
As for her replacement, she expects the Woodward County Commission to appoint Mistie Dunn, the current first deputy in the assessor’s office to the position to finish her term.
“She has very good work ethics,” Gentry said.
