Calvin Garner can tell you the exact amount of time he has worked for the Yazoo County road crew.
“I have been here 40 years, four months and 29 days,” he said, with a smile.
And as his family and friends gathered around him last Friday for his official last day of work and a hot meal, he welcomes retirement with an intention to give back to his church, do a little fishing and finish that “honey-do list.”
“I go by Paul around here, but that isn’t my name,” he said, continuing to smile. “So, I have been Paul all these years.”
The 59-year-old was born and raised in Satartia, where his father was a sharecropper.
“It was kind of rough growing up the way we did,” he admits. “But we made it by.”
Garner attended St. Francis, Gibbs, Satartia and Bentonia schools before attending Holmes Junior College. As an adult, he was working on a farm when Bobby Ragland asked him to come work for Yazoo County.
“I had worked with the county as part of a summer youth work program,” he said. “I started out using a shovel. I never thought that I would be out here as long as I have. But after getting out of trade school, the jobs were scarce around these parts.”
Garner said he thought his job with the county would have been a brief part of his career journey. But he soon discovered that he could work his way up the ladder.
“If you kept working hard, you could keep making it to the next level,” Garner said. “One thing led to another, and before long I had stayed too long to leave.”
His favorite part of the job was working as an equipment operator, Garner said. He spent most of time working on the road grader. But it wasn’t the work that was the most rewarding part for him over the years.
“When you work with these fellows here, they become family,” he said. “The older generation are all dead now, but you remember those guys who helped you when you first started. Now there is a whole new generation.”
Garner also admits there were challenges over the years. But he said the important thing was to not let those obstacles consume your desire to do a good job.
“Things won’t always go your way, and sometimes it may seem like it’s not worth it,” he said. “But as long you stay with it, it will prove to be worth it. When you work for the public, sometimes people don’t realize the dangerous situations you work in on a road crew. You are out in storms at night, cutting trees. But my family and Christ pushed me through those situations. You must have Christ in your life to make it.”
Garner credits his faith and the love for his family as his inspiration to do a job well. He and his wife Rachel have been married for 25 years. They have a daughter and two granddaughters who live in Flora.
Garner is also very active in his church, Rose Hill M.B. Church. He serves as a Sunday School teacher and the church musician.
“I look forward to every Sunday, when I can go to church,” he said. “The music, singing and worship relaxes me. And while I was working all those years, coming home and knowing my family was there made it all worth it. You may have challenges throughout the day but coming home to a good wife makes it all right.”
