‘Mrs. Penny’ retires from Mt Laurel after long career

When she began working as the front office secretary at Chelsea Elementary in 1995, Penny Houston only planned to work until her children graduated. A pastor’s wife, Houston wanted to have a job that was on her children’s schedule, and this was the perfect opportunity.

“My daughter started kindergarten, and I was already volunteering at the school. The lady in the front office was retiring, and I was approached to see if I’d be interested in it, and I thought it would be a good little gig,” Houston said.

In October, after working in Chelsea schools for 25 years, “Mrs. Penny” retired from her position as registrar/data manager at Mt Laurel Elementary. It was her job to keep up with student attendance, enrollment, withdrawals, report cards, grades, keeping the school’s data up to date on staff and students and more.

After working 10 years at Chelsea Elementary, when Mt Laurel opened, her principal (Bill Naugher) was moving schools and asked her to go with him and apply for the registrar position. She was there through all four principals in the school’s history.

She didn’t stop working after both of her children graduated high school. Now her son and daughter are teachers in the Shelby County Schools system. Her daughter, Jennifer, teaches ESL at Montevallo Elementary, and her son, Paul, is a Behavior Interventionist at Linda Nolen Learning Center.

Although her original retirement date was Nov. 1, she had so many sick days built up, her actual retirement was July 1. But because Mt Laurel Elementary had a new registrar and secretary coming in for the new school year, she was contracted part-time to help them transition into their new roles. Her last day in office was Oct. 22.

She said she was always very involved with the students, and one of her favorite things to do each year was assist the school counselor with the angel tree.

“That was one of my most favorite things to do at work outside of my job, was helping with the angel tree and taking care of those kids making sure they all got gifts,” she said.

Houston described Mt Laurel as the best place in the world and said the people there were her second family. She did actually get to work with family: Her daughter-in-law, Haley Spates Houston, is the music teacher there.

Principal Celita Deem described Houston as “one of the most loyal employees with a heart of gold and a true woman of God.”

“We are so thankful she’s going to continue to sub for us in the office when she’s not taking care of her sweet new grandbaby,” Deem said.

Being a grandmother is a new role for Houston, one she’s been waiting on for a long time. Her daughter recently had a baby boy, and Houston will be keeping him when his mom goes back to work in January. She can’t wait to take on her new role as “Lovie.”

Her husband, David, is in his 32nd year as pastor at Vandiver Church of God, and Houston said she’ll still be “Mrs. Penny” to everyone there.

“Not everybody can say this, but I was blessed and loved going to work,” she said. “It was a wonderful place to work and great people to work with. They gave me such a wonderful retirement party, and it was so much more than I ever dreamed or expected.”