Kimberly Monfils Blake passed away after an extended battle with cancer on August 12, 2024. Kimberly became the face and voice of the Tattnall County Board of Education for nearly 20 years as she was the receptionist just inside the front door that took messages for individuals out of their offices, directed parents or visitors to their desired locations, provided instructions for those delivering school supplies on where to put those supplies and then contacted personnel at the schools to let them know their supplies had arrived. She kept an up-to-date log on where Board Office employees were located at all times of the day so she could contact them if necessary. She did all of this while taking on duties similar to those of a telephone switchboard operator in the 1950s. If you called the Tattnall County Board of Education, you got Kimberly, and Kimberly would put you in contact with the person that could help you. Her voice literally came over the phone surrounded by a smile.
“So she could multi-task,” some might say. “No big deal.”
“Well, not exactly. Due to a childhood accident, Kimberly was paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair. But from the very beginning, she refused to let that be an excuse to do less, and, as activity at the Board of Education got more hectic with more government oversight and a growing school population throughout the county, she was able to meet the requirements of her job at the front office easily, or so it seemed.
In the mid-1990s after the Board of Education Office was moved from the Tattnall County Courthouse and “the Little White House” to the vacant Old Reidsville High School building, personnel at the Board Office answered the phone on an “I’ve got it” basis. It was usually a secretary, but sometimes it was a student working part time, or a curriculum director, special education director, food service director, technology supervisor, or a superintendent. The operational rule of thumb was, “if the phone rings three times, answer it.” The person answering would locate the individual for which the call was intended or take a message. Sometimes, if they were lucky, they would be the person the caller needed.
There was a definite need for a full-time receptionist, but in the 1990s and early 2000s, there were strict limitations on usage of available funds such as monies from the one percent local option sales tax (SPLOST), which was used primarily for construction, purchases of student desks, etc. Those needs had to be listed in a referendum asking voters to allow the one percent sales tax, and the monies collected had to be spent specifically on the needs listed on the referendum. Misuse of monies could result in having to pay those funds back with penalties, and most state and federal funds were similarly earmarked.
Obviously, taxpayers wanted to keep property taxes as low as possible. To make a long story short, there were little excess funds for a receptionist. Those monies were used for pressing needs at the schools. In the mid-1990s, some businesses were switching from receptionists to automated answering machines, which could automatically route a call through to the individual sought. It was not done for better service but rather to save money.
Superintendents balked. Talking to a machine could infuriate an upset caller even more, and if the person sought was out of the office or on another line and the caller had to hold for several minutes, a tense situation could worsen. Mad parents (or taxpayers) want answers.
Bridget Welch, the Tattnall County Schools Financial Officer at that time, saw the need for a receptionist and was a leading voice for Kimberly in that position. Certainly there were doubters, but those individuals did not know Kimberly. Bridget did. Perhaps she saw strength and determination in those beautiful blue eyes. Whatever she saw, she was right.
Mrs. Lisa Trim remembers that Bridget took the lead in designing Kimberly’s office just inside the entrance at the Board of Education in such a way as to facilitate multi-tasking from a wheelchair or focusing on a singular responsibility when necessary as the situation required.
No architect could have done better. The office was redesigned specifically for Kimberly and included some of her suggestions. She was a quick learner, and although one might detect some apprehension at times when operations got a little hectic, she responded like a U.S. Marine during an island invasion in the Pacific during World War II. In those situations, she would “adapt and overcome.”
In no time, her presence just inside the front door of the Board Office was a more-than-welcome addition. If an angry parent came through the door, Kimberly’s bright smile and twinkling blue eyes would soften the anger. Simply stated, it was virtually impossible to talk with her for two minutes and stay mad. Upset parents or visitors who intended to scorch the hair around the superintendent’s ears suddenly became more accepting of a reasonable explanation.
Principals, teachers, janitors, food service personnel, and maintenance men could be gritting their teeth when they started to leave, but after a minute or two at Kimberly’s desk, they usually went away smiling, and most would not think of leaving without taking a moment to talk with her.
It was a two-way street. Kimberly loved her job, the people she worked with, and the Tattnall County School System. Mrs. Lisa Trim told this writer that after her oral treatments for cancer proved to be ineffective, she was treated with chemotherapy, which often causes weakness and sometimes violent nausea. But, the next morning after her first treatment, she was back on the job. I would wager that no one at the Board of Education was surprised.
Historians look back at the Great Depression World War II area and marvel at how people accomplished so much under difficult conditions and maintained such positive attitudes. Tom Brokaw deemed it “The Greatest Generation,” and he used multiple examples of individuals who refused to let their personal situation influence their attitude. They simply put their shoulder to the wheel and got the job done regardless of the circumstance. Kimberly was cut from that cloth.
Many of us in and around Tattnall County knew and loved Kimberly, and we are the better for it. Her courage and determination made everyone’s day a little brighter. She certainly did that for me, and she will be missed.
