Members of St. Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Church in Hecker recently said goodbye to their parish secretary of 23 years.

Joan Powell started her long-time position at St. Augustine in 1990 – just a few years after she first came to Hecker.

Powell is originally from Sparta. After working her way through Sparta district schools, she received an associate’s degree from Kaskaskia College.

She then spent five years working as a secretary for the now defunct World Color Press. After getting married and moving to Hecker in 1988, she started working as a librarian in the community, having her one and only child in 1989.

Powell began attending St. Augustine with her son and was soon presented with a new opportunity to work with the church.

“I was teaching religion classes to the ones that didn’t go to the Catholic school, and the bookkeeper secretary that was here was getting ready to retire after 30 years, and they were talking to me ‘Would I be interested?’ and so I thought I’d give it a try,” Powell said.

She added that the distance between her home and the church was a big draw for her. She could even check on her son getting picked up and dropped off for school outside her office window.

Powell recalled the myriad of responsibilities she dealt with as secretary including putting together the weekly bulletin, managing donations offered during weekend service and organizing numerous reports for the diocese office.

While Powell said she enjoyed most of her work, the accounting was something she hardly looked forward to.

“I’m not a bookkeeper or a numbers person,” Powell said. “I am a secretary, so I like the typing and the words. The bulletin was always kind of my baby, but in the course of the work, I had to be responsible for financial reports, and I did them, but they’re not my favorite thing.”

Powell emphasized that even with the bookkeeping and the occasional churchgoer she would catch in a bad mood, her 23 years as St. Augustine secretary were very much positive.

“Overall it’s very positive,” Powell said. “Of course, like any other job, you have good days and bad days, but overall everyone was welcoming to me and they remained very supportive. I can’t really say anything that’s not positive. Overall, it’s been very positive.”

Powell said the human aspect of the job is what she’ll likely miss most. She spoke positively of the six priests she worked with over the years as well as the many individuals she saw day-to-day.

Though she’ll be giving up her role in the church, Powell said she’ll remain as active in the congregation as ever.

“I will miss seeing the people on a regular basis, but I’ll still see them at church,” Powell said. “And I’ll still volunteer as a parishioner at the various events that we have. And I won’t miss getting up early if I don’t have to.”

Powell added that in her retirement, she expects to enjoy time with her also newly-retired husband, travel and dive into her hobbies of scrapbooking and reading.

Stepping in for Powell is Lori Rozhon, a rather new face to the St. Augustine community.

Rozhon spoke positively about her acquaintance with Powell and the rest of the church, adding she’s eager to move into her predecessor’s position.

“I met Joan and St. Augustine’s priest and all the parishioners, and I just felt like I met another family I was meant to meet,” Rozhon said. “I’m looking forward to hopefully filling her shoes and continuing her good work and making St. Augustine’s our new home.”