Mary Howell, a longtime staple of Rutherford County Schools, reflects on 51-year career helping others, and now after retirement, how much she misses serving the school community

September 4, 2026

By JAMES EVANS

Rutherford County Schools

There’s something different about the new school year in Rutherford County.

For the first time in 51 years, Mary Howell isn’t in the office, working to help schools and families.

Howell retired from Rutherford County Schools over the summer, closing a career that spanned more than half a century — a career that began when she was just 17 years old and continued through enormous changes in Rutherford County, its schools and the technology used to run them.

And for Howell, retirement is bittersweet.

“It’s hard not to be there,” Howell said. “I mean, when you work your whole life, you don’t know anything else.”

A CAREER THAT BEGAN IN 1975

When Howell began working for Rutherford County Schools in 1975, Gerald Ford was president. “Jaws” was drawing crowds to movie theaters. “Gunsmoke,” one of the longest-running television series in American history, had just ended its run on CBS.

Rutherford County Schools looked quite different, too.

Howell remembers a district with about 18 schools. There were no middle schools as we know them today, with many elementary schools serving students through eighth grade. The school district’s central office was considerably smaller in a tiny building on Memorial Boulevard, and computers had yet to become part of the daily work of running a school system.

Howell had graduated from Riverdale High School only months earlier.

“I was 17, and I was very shy, which I know that’s hard to believe,” Howell recalled. “I was just the youngest one there in the whole building, and everybody else was old enough to be my parents.”

Her path to Rutherford County Schools actually began while she was still a Riverdale student.

Howell participated in a vocational program, where one of her teachers, Jerry Warner, learned the district was looking for an accounting clerk and recommended Howell for the position.

The irony, Howell shared, is that bookkeeping wasn’t exactly her favorite subject.

“Bookkeeping was my least favorite subject,” she said. “I loved being the secretary more, but the bookkeeping and the accounting is what got me my job.”

What Howell couldn't have known at 17 was that the job would become a career lasting 51 years.

GROWING UP WITH RUTHERFORD COUNTY SCHOOLS

Howell often says she didn't simply work for Rutherford County Schools — she grew up with it.

Her first job was as an accounting clerk. Two years later, she became secretary to the superintendent.

When the superintendent later moved to Smyrna Elementary School, Howell went too and helped open the school, serving as secretary and bookkeeper.

“You only had one (staff) person that worked at each school back then,” Howell said.

She eventually returned to the central office, first working in attendance and later in instruction before ultimately returning to the attendance department, where she spent much of her career.

Over those decades, Howell had a front-row seat to the transformation of Rutherford County.

Schools opened. Enrollment exploded. New departments and positions were created. Jobs that once required paper ledgers and handwritten records moved to computers and increasingly sophisticated student information systems.

Then came the computers.

“We had to get the computers for all the schools and train them how to do the stuff in the computers,” Howell said. “Then we just kind of grew from there.”

The physical central office was different, too.

Howell estimates only about 50 employees worked in the old central office, and space was at such a premium that file cabinets sometimes couldn't even be opened.

“It was like we were so packed in there,” she said. “Your file cabinets you used as a surface because you couldn’t get the drawers open because it was so tight in there.”

But some of Howell’s fondest memories aren't about the buildings, computers or programs.

They're about the people.

“Back then, we always worked hard, and you helped each other,” Howell said. “If you were busy, somebody would come over and help you. Or if they got busy, you’d go over and help them.”

After more than five decades, many of those coworkers became lifelong friends. Others, Howell said, are no longer here.

“I grew up working for the school system,” she said. “A lot of those people that I loved so much are gone. I wish y’all could have known some of them because they were really good people.”

THERE’S NOTHING THAT WE CAN’T FIX

Ask Howell what kept her coming back year after year and her answer is simple.

“I loved my job,” she said. “I like to stay busy, I like to help people, and I just loved it.”

That desire to help became something of a philosophy for Howell, particularly in her work with school attendance employees.

Attendance isn't simply about recording whether a student is present. Those numbers are tied directly to school funding, making accuracy critical. But Howell also understood that the employees entering those numbers were often juggling dozens of other responsibilities inside busy school offices.

Her job, she believed, was to make their jobs a little easier.

“I used to always try to tell them there’s nothing that you can do that we can’t fix,” Howell said.

It was a message she repeated often when someone called the central office worried about a mistake or unsure what to do.

“Don’t worry about this,” Howell would tell them. “We’ll get it worked out together.”

When asked about the accomplishment that makes her proudest after 51 years, Howell doesn't point to a program she launched or a title she held.

She points to people.

“My greatest thing is that I helped people,” Howell said. “I never was mean to anybody. I think that when people are under stress, you need somebody that’s going to be calm and listen to them.”

It's also the advice she would give employees who are just beginning their own careers with Rutherford County Schools.

“Don’t over-worry about things,” Howell said. “Call people and ask people questions.”

And never be afraid to admit you don't know something.

“Don’t think there’s a stupid question, because if you don’t know, you don’t know,” she said.

A LIFE BUILT AROUND HELPING OTHERS

Howell's life hasn't been without hardship.

Her husband, whom she called Bubba, died at age 47 after suffering a heart attack. He had worked for the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office and served as a school resource officer, a job Howell said he loved.

Their son, Zach, a Riverdale High School graduate and football player, died nine years later at age 29 following health complications.

“Zach lived nine more years, and he missed his daddy really bad,” Howell said. “So they’re together, and that makes it somehow easier for me.”

Those experiences have helped shape the way Howell sees other people.

“We never know what other people are going through,” she said. “You’ve got to treat people like you would want to be treated.”

SHE ADDED: “You need to be kind to everybody. That’s what we’re supposed to be — be kind to others.”

RETIREMENT — AND ANOTHER PERSON TO HELP

After 51 years, Howell originally thought she might continue working until age 70.

Then life intervened.

Her younger sister, Diane, became seriously ill. Howell began thinking about coworkers and friends who had waited until later in life to retire, only to find themselves unable to enjoy the retirement they had planned.

“I didn’t want to wait untill I couldn’t do anything,” Howell said.

More importantly, her sister needed her.

Howell brought Diane home and became one of her primary caregivers.

Her retirement days now include preparing her sister's meals, helping with baths and washing her hair, working through physical therapy exercises and simply spending time together watching television.

So after spending 51 years helping other people, Howell has entered retirement doing much the same thing.

“Well, yes, I am,” she said when that irony was pointed out to her.

She admits she doesn't really know yet what retirement will eventually look like.

She does know what it feels like to watch a new school year begin without her.

“It’s hard,” Howell said. “It’s hard not to be there.”

When asked to sum up her years of service, Howell answered simply.

“I was lucky enough to have a job that I loved, and I worked with people that I loved,” Howell said. “It’s not just something that you say. I like people. I love people, because all I want to do is help somebody, and I felt like I helped people.”

For 51 years, she did.

And for the first time in more than half a century, Rutherford County Schools is beginning a school year without Mary Howell in the office.

But the thousands of employees, families and students she helped along the way remain part of the legacy she leaves behind.