Through three school superintendents, four elementary principals, hundreds of faculty and untold thousands of students, Irene Mahnken has been one of the few constants for more than three decades in her role as elementary school secretary in Girard.
And now, that era is wrapping up and Mahnken prepares to close out the records and roles she kept for 33 years for the last time and begin her life of retirement, effective Jan. 1.
Over her 33 years, the job sometimes was frustrating but most of the time it was fun, Mahnken said. The one thing it never was, was boring.
“There's probably something every year that made me smile,” Mahnken said. “That's why I came back every year.”
She recalled, for example, one young adventurer, probably during her first year as secretary. This particular young man caused quite a stir when he climbed a tree on the school grounds and no manner of cajoling or prompting could bring him down from his perch.
“We had to call the fire department to come and get him out of the tree,” Mahnken said. “He just wouldn't come down. I don't even remember his name.
“It was just every year, there was something. Every year has been different and challenging.”
Mahnken got her start with the then-pre-consolidation Girard School District in 1973, hired by Chuck Shireman as an aide to help with a child with developmental and physical difficulties. She worked through that school year, then was hired on as a para-professional the next year, working with different children in the special needs category — then called special education — between the district's two elementary schools.
She held that position until 1975, when the two schools consolidated into one, in the former Todd's Cheese factory under then principal Gene O'Nelio, Mahnken said. It was O'Nelio who tapped Mahnken to be secretary for the new school, named R.V. Haderlein Elementary.
“They really hadn't had a secretary before,” she said. “I was the first.
“I was raising kids and they were all in school, so this was a good job to have. It was during school hours.”
Her duties included enrolling students, filing and keeping student records, much the same as she does now. She also was in charge of taking tickets from students in the school lunch lines, a job she continued throughout her tenure.
In fact, over her 33 years, the duties really haven't changed that much. But the way the job is done definitely has, she said.
“It's all computerized now,” Mahnken said. “There's still some paperwork. But what was all paperwork back then is now all done on the computer.”
When she took the job, Mahnken had no expertise or training in education. She'd graduated from high school and worked for a few years for CrawKan Telephone Cooperative, she said. But that was about it. But she definitely made the job her own.
And, she'd like to think her job working at the school inspired her children to pursue careers in education.
She and her husband Roger, who retired from the maintenance department of U.S.D. 248 about eight years ago, had three children: Son Steve, who teaches fifth grade at Northeast Elementary in Arma and his wife, Lisa, a special education instructor in Girard. Another son, Bryan, who's a physical education teacher in the Pittsburg schools and Bryan's wife, Julie, who teaches science at Frontenac High School. The couple's third child, daughter Kathy Bennett, is a nurse at Mt. Carmel Regional Medical Center and her husband, Mike, is on the management team for Crossland Construction Co., out of Columbus.
But, through it all, she was satisfied with her position as school secretary. She said she may have briefly entertained thoughts of becoming a teacher, but those thoughts were put out of her mind almost as quickly as they entered, she said.
“I never did really have the desire to be in a classroom, even though I liked being around the kids and having the variety of things to do as a para-professional,” Mahnken said. “I was still raising kids at home and I liked the hours. When they were out of school I was at home with them.”
Mahnken had thought about retiring at the end of the 2007-08 school year. She was starting to experience some arthritis problems and wanted to leave leave while she still was in good general health. She was going to stay through the end of this year but decided it was time to go now, she said.
“I just knew when it was time,” she said. “I couldn't give my all to the job any more.”
If you'd asked her 33 years ago if she could ever see herself retiring from the job of school secretary, she'd have told you no, she said. But now, looking back over her more than three decades in the position, she can't imagine herself doing anything else.
“I don't have any regrets,” Mahnken said. “There was something every year that made me want to go back and see what was going to happen the next year.
“I haven't regretted any of this. It's been a learning experience for me. It's just been awesome.”

A retirement reception for long-time school secretary Irene Mahnken is scheduled for Monday, from 3:30 - 5 p.m. at R.V. Haderlein Elementary School, 520 W. Prairie St., in Girard.