By KATHY HAGEMAN
Dickinson County public information coordinator
Maxine Koffman has a lot of fond memories from her 25 years working in the Dickinson County Courthouse.
After nearly 19 years in the motor vehicle/treasurer’s department and the last six with the sheriff’s department, Koffman will retire at the end of March.
She will be honored during a retirement party Friday, April 1 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Dickinson County Courthouse basement, 109 E. 1st Street. (The sheriff’s office will be closed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. that day).
With her smile and sunny disposition, Maxine Koffman has brightened both visitors’ and co-workers’ days at the courthouse since she walked in the door on Feb. 3, 1997.
“The tag office (motor vehicle) and the treasurer’s office were separate in those days. Motor vehicle was in the basement where emergency management is,” Koffman said.
Although separate, but still part of the treasurer’s office, motor vehicle staff helped out -- especially during tax time.
“They would send down statements for us to fold, open up the mail for payments and do other things,” she said.
“We were always called the dungeon dwellers, because it was just us (motor vehicle), the appraiser’s office, the landfill and 911,” she said with a laugh. “We used to have little competitions between the offices -- except for 911 because they were always busy -- to make the days go faster.”
Sometime during the mid-2000s, the motor vehicle department moved to the treasurer’s office on the main floor when Louise Habacker was treasurer.
“There were four of us from out of the basement, plus the three that were in the treasurer’s office and Louise,” Koffman said. “We all fit in the space and we were able to help more with tax time.”
Move to sheriff’s department
After she turned 60, Koffman began wondering if it was time for a change.
“I was talking to my friend Patti Anderson who worked for the sheriff’s department. We’re the same age and she said, ‘Maybe you need a different career?’”
It just so happened about that same time an office job opened up at the sheriff’s department and then-Sheriff Gareth Hoffman asked Koffman if she was interested.
“I thought that might be an awesome change,” Koffman said. “And it was a challenge.”
Koffman began work as a records clerk at the sheriff’s office on Dec. 14, 2015, waiting on customers, answering the phone and other reception duties. Her job later moved into more of a receptionist’s role and has remained that way under Sheriff Jerry Davis’ administration.
Being a receptionist has worked out well, she said.
“I’ve always been a people person,” Koffman said. “I had a boss tell me during my job interview with him that I had the best bubbly personality he had ever seen. All my jobs in my life have been with the public.”
Koffman’s sunny personality also helped her make friends with many courthouse visitors over the years and was especially useful when dealing with upset customers.
“I saw more upset people when I worked in the treasurer’s office because they had to pay taxes,” she said. “People who moved in from out of state didn’t understand how Kansas taxes work. I didn’t see as much at the sheriff’s office,” she said.
Besides working for Dickinson County, Koffman also had numerous jobs in the private sector, starting as a third grader when she was a Salina Journal newspaper delivery girl in her hometown of Osborne.
Later when she moved to this area of Kansas, she worked at the Talmage State Bank, CE Raymond, Green Ford, First National Bank (which became Pinnacle Bank) and early on was a hairdresser in a couple Salina salons.
Good memories
Koffman recalled that she became very close to many of her coworkers over the years in the treasurer’s office and other departments. People like Timberly Bowers, Nancy Marston and others in the old motor vehicle department.
“Jean Clark, Betty Longhofer in the county clerk’s office -- those ladies were very special.
They’d joke and laugh and always had stories to tell. They were great friends,” Koffman said, wiping away tears.
“I’ve met a lot of good people in the sheriff’s office too,” she said, but noted that working in that department and what law enforcement deals with has been “eye opening.”
“The world is not as sunshiny as you think it is. There are a lot of good people in this world, but there are a lot of bad people too,” she said.
Koffman also has enjoyed learning to know the people who work in Dickinson County Administration. Some administration staff have been sharing space in the new sheriff’s department while the courthouse is being remodeled.
“I thought it was going to be a challenge when construction started and we all moved into one little area, but it seems to have worked out pretty good overall,” she said.
Retirement
During retirement, Koffman plans to spend more time with family. She and her husband Jon Koffman, an Abilene electrician, have five children between them and nine grandchildren.
She also plans on having a needed surgery, then chasing after grandchildren, spending time with her 98-year-old mother, working on flower beds and “learning what Jon wants me to do or what I’ll have him do,” she said with a laugh.
As for her 25 years with the county, Koffman has fond memories.
“I’m really glad I came to work for the county. I would recommend it. I think it’s a place where you can build a career. With every job there’s things you’d like to see changed, but that’s the world we live in,” Koffman said.
“It’s been a good job for me and now it’s time for me to go.”