NEWPORT – Jane Sawyer and Judy McKenzie aren’t going to work on Tuesday – or any day soon after. That’s when retirement starts for the lifelong friends.

For the past 30 years, they have shared duties in the day-to-day operation of Newport District Court.

Sawyer became court clerk in 1970. A year later, she hired McKenzie to be her assistant.

They’re not sure when they began planning on retirement or how it became a joint decision.

“I told her, ‘If you’re going, I’m going, too,'” McKenzie said when the two sat down to reminisce about their mutual experiences. And there have been some experiences – most of which they can’t, and won’t, talk about.

It didn’t surprise Newport attorney Steve Packard to learn the women weren’t telling many tales about their 30-plus years dealing with the court system.

“After a lifetime of practicing discretion, it becomes part of your personality,” Packard said of the duo. “It’s a very stressful job.

“But they have managed to handle the stresses and strains the court demands and always handled it with a certain amount of diplomacy quite effectively.”

Despite the variety of people, ranging from speeders and drunken drivers to thieves, rapists and an occasional murderer, who passed through the court, the two women believed and practiced a policy that everyone deserves to be treated with respect.

“You have to remember people are generally unhappy about being here,” McKenzie said. “Something has gone wrong in their lives that has caused them to be [in court]. They often are looking for us to help them out.”

“There is a very fine line between helping people and advising them,” Sawyer said.

Court personnel are prohibited from giving legal advice. Often the questions posed at the counter ask for more than they can lawfully provide, she said.

“We tell them every time,” Sawyer said of the court system’s “divorce kit” forms. “Take this home and read it. You know most of them don’t. They don’t want to. They’re hoping someone will do it for them.”

It’s a growing problem with more and more people trying to represent themselves in the legal system, the women agreed. Some people are up to the challenge while many more are not. Fortunately the resources to help people through the court process has grown along with the demand for services, the women said.

The most common questions at the counter, however, remain: “Is there a pay phone?” and “Where’s the bathroom?”

Although many people arrive at the counter confused, angry or frustrated, the two women said they never felt threatened in their work.

The Newport court has experienced its share of prisoner escapes, but clerks were often the last to know.

“If we hear breaking glass, we might know,” McKenzie joked. “Generally we just see everyone running in a different direction, and we know something is up.”

At least one escapee crashed through a security room window, while another man ran when a girlfriend simply released a locked door, she explained. A third would-be escapee was wrestled to the floor and promptly reprimanded by a disturbed judge emerging from his chambers.

“We’ve been truly blessed to have staff like them,” Newport Police Chief Jim Ricker said about the two clerks. “They’ve both put a very personal touch to the court system in this community. Anytime you have two people who live and work in the community as long as they have, there’s a connection with the community.

“It’s made our job easier,” he said, explaining Sawyer “smartened me up more than once” when she called to remind him to turn in his paperwork.

“They gave me a lot of encouragement when I was a young assistant DA,” Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said of the two clerks. “They seemed to appreciate that we worked hard. That was nice for me when I was starting out.

“And they always had a great sense of humor – and the best plants,” Almy added.

The plants that overtook the clerk’s office on Water Street after the court moved in 1986 are slowly disappearing. Each day, one more makes it out the door under the arm of Sawyer or McKenzie. The new staff claim to lack a green thumb, the veterans said.

There wasn’t as much room for indoor greenery in the court’s third floor space on Main Street.

“There wasn’t room for anything there,” Sawyer said of the former court offices. “The lawyers had to confer with their clients on the back stairs.”

“Everyone sat together whether friend or foe,” McKenzie said of the cramped quarters.

“It’s going to be different,” Judge James MacMichael, the presiding judge in Newport, said of the impending retirement. “They’re the people that everyone who has dealt with Newport court identify as the court.”

The court staff will host an open house for the two on Friday. MacMichael said that when plans were discussed to recognize the retiring duo, he knew upfront it wouldn’t work to plan a surprise.

“Nothing goes on in that court that they don’t know about,” he said.

The judge said, “We’re going to be sorry to see them go. It’s a real loss to the district court system. But it’s well-deserved on their part.”

Newport attorney Bob Cox recalled this week that “when Jane started, the former clerk [Marjorie Merrill] told her if she didn’t know more than all the lawyers in the area in six months, she ought to quit.

“And she’s still trying,” he joked.

“Jane took the careful approach and she got along,” Cox said. “She’s very consistent and protective of the people around her. We, Jane, Judy and I, have had a good relationship. She [Jane] has done me a lot of favors over the years.

“I’m going to miss her terribly, and Judy, too,” Cox added. “She’s too good a clerk to replace easily.”

After spending so many years in one place, both women realize it will be difficult to leave some aspects of the job behind.

“I’ll probably have to drive down the street some mornings just to make sure I’m awake,” McKenzie said.

And then there’s Jake.

The long-haired, yellow tabby is probably the most loyal friend the two will leave behind. He really is the neighborhood cat, the women said, but he doesn’t miss his day in court or a chance to be a desk decoration for either of the women.

Jake often is called the “courthouse cat.” His acceptance at the courthouse is yet another example of the influence the duo has had on the atmosphere there, one attorney pointed out.

“The best part has been working with my best friend for 30 years,” Sawyer said of her years with McKenzie.

“Me, too,” McKenzie said. “I’m glad she asked me.”