Much hailed court clerk survives retirement roast

State workers need to hire a public relations firm

You have heard all the jokes about state workers. Every time the Legislature and governor prepare another disastrous budget, the first people to suffer are state workers, who face layoffs and freezes on wages and hiring.

But on Saturday at MBNA’s Ginley Hall, 100 members of the judiciary family gathered to honor a retiring state worker who was called “the cream of the crop,” one Joyce Page, retiring clerk of Waldo County Superior Court in Belfast, with 31 years of service.

Page suffered through so many tributes on Saturday that Searsport attorney Peter Mason felt compelled to turn the tables. He said he was staggered that 100 people would turn out and pay $31.50 for the buffet lunch. Mason said he attended only because “I thought there was an open bar.”

Little will change now that Page has retired, according to the sharp-tongued Mason.

“Now she will be spending her leisure time at home, not the court office. I feel bad for [retired jail administrator and husband] Marty. He retired, but now he has to get back to work … and that is not a financial consideration.”

On a serious note, Mason praised Page for being so helpful that the Waldo County bar grew to take for granted all those calls about schedule updates. As he left the dais, Master of Ceremonies Francis Marsano said that Mason promised to take only a minute for his speech but then “was captured by his own verbosity.”

District Court Judge Patricia Worth said the judiciary family questioned how Page could retire when she looked so young. Worth then produced an alleged birth certificate that pegged Page’s birth date of 1952, not 1942, and sentenced Page to 10 more years of hard labor at Waldo County Superior Court.

Without the benefit of a jury, Assistant District Attorney Leane Zainea pronounced Page “guilty of being a terrific clerk and good friend. She was professional, efficient and courteous and a model of efficiency,” even when it included handling the rotting evidence in a moose hunting case. Zainea sentenced Page to a lifetime of retirement in custody of husband Marty.

Retired Superior Court Justice Thomas E. Delahanty II said in a letter that part of his legal training three months after coming to the bench included coming to Belfast and “listening to Joyce and doing whatever she said.” The letter was read by long-term colleague Linda Ward, who said, “Joyce will be sorely missed by everyone, especially me.”

Part of the duties of “the very, very, very tough “job as court clerk was “putting up with the ego of the judges,” testified Justice Donald Marden.

Teri Curtis will inherit Page’s large shoes as clerk of Superior Court, plus running the District Court in Belfast. While Curtis figures out how to manage that, Page will now be free to make her vacation and personal trips without planning around the court schedule, the replacement said. “I will be fortunate to do the job half as well as she has,” Curtis said.

When Belfast attorney Randy Mailloux suffered severe vision problems, Clerk Page arranged the court schedule and tempo to allow Mailloux to perform his duties without embarrassment. “That will always mean a lot to me,” Maillox said.

Retired Justice Francis Marsano said Page laid down the law early in his career as a Belfast attorney when he made a comment about a client in a case involving a bunch of rocks. It seemed that the rocks allegedly were owned by Page’s mother-in-law. “Decades later, Marsano admitted that the mother-in-law “was a smart woman … and probably owned those rocks.” Marsano traveled from Florida to praise his old friend for “representing the court system as well as it could be represented.”

Regional Court administrator Deb Hjort praised Page as being ” a quiet superstar.”

In tears, Page said, “I tried to treat everyone equally and I always tried to do my best for the people of Maine.” She thanked the 100 supporters for giving up their Saturday afternoon for her party.

“Don’t forget the $31.50,” Mason yelled. Retired (one week before) Regional Court Administrator Rob Miller was chided for giving away the surprise party and almost ruining the party.

A few more Saturdays like that and taxpayers might start to appreciate state workers.

Send complaints and compliments to Emmet Meara at emmetmeara@msn.com.