Beech Tree News Network

When eighteen-year-old Sara Cannon walked through the front door of the WRECC office, the first person she met on her new job was Jewel (Mullinex) McCoy.  “You’re not here to stroke egos,” Ms. McCoy told her, ”You’re here to take care of the customer.”  Sara took that advice, along with a work ethic she began developing as an eleven-year-old, helping her mom at The Sandwich Shop, and carved out a career that spanned forty-three years.  Sara will retire this week.

In 1969, the year Sara Cannon started working with WRECC, electricity had only been available in Butler County for about eighteen years.  “When I started working here, electricity was appreciated,” Sara observed, “Now it’s expected.”  The cooperative, which includes Morgantown, Bowling Green, Franklin and Leitchfield, was part of the REA (Rural Electric Administration).

According to the New Deal website (http://newdeal.feri.org), only ten percent of the rural population had electricity in the 1930’s compared to ninety percent of people living in urban areas with electricity.  Private utility companies at the time believed it wouldn’t be financially profitable for them to extend electricity to the country side, so the Roosevelt Administration established the REA, which made it the government’s responsibility to see that electricity was available to the rural communities.

The changes in technology from the years between 1969 and the present are mind-boggling.  “I started out with an adding machine,” Sara remembers, “We didn’t even have calculators.  And if you came in without your bill, we would have to look up your account in a big book that weighed at least forty pounds.  Going from those days to today is like going from a Pinto to a Cadillac.”

With the invention of cell phones, transmission to the guys in the field (ten in this district) also goes a lot smoother these days.  The cooperative still depends on radio transmission, but every office has its own signal, unlike in the past, when the two office employees would be subjected to chatter from all four areas.

Presently, there are four employees in the office on Tyler Street.  Sara is the Customer Service supervisor, a job she insists is made a lot easier by the women who work beside her.  One of those women, Brittiany Hudson, will be taking Sara’s place after November 1st of this year.

“Every job has its ups and downs, but I’ve enjoyed every minute of working here,” Sara says.  Reminiscing about some of those ups and downs brings up the subject of the ice storm of 2009, a particularly harrowing experience for those working in the business of electricity.  Sara remembers a lighter moment that happened during those long, chaotic hours.  She tells it as only Sara can tell a story: “This guy calls in and says, I’ve got a problem.  You don’t have electricity, I say.  You don’t understand, it’s worse, he says.  I’ve had to move back in with my ex-wife.  Could you please get my electricity back on!”  It was a moment of levity that the weary office crew sorely appreciated.

Retirement for Sara Cannon will be an entirely new experience.  “I’ve never been home,” she says, “I’ve worked since I was eleven years old.”  Her family looks forward to more time with her.  When asked about her plans after retirement, she laughs and says, “I’m going to Disney World!’  Actually, she is.  Her daughter, Becky, works at the theme park, and Sara and her husband plan on vacationing there in the very near future.

Whatever Sara Cannon’s plans include after retirement, you can rest assured they won’t involve quietly watching the world go by.

(There will be a reception recognizing Sara Cannon’s service and celebrating her retirement at the Eva Hawes Community Building on November 2nd, from 1:30 – 4:00 pm.  The public is invited.)

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Story and photo by Cheryl Hughes, Beech Tree News/WLBQ