Sally Jo Alley retiring after 41 years with Jackson County

Longtime Jackson County employee Sally Jo Alley is set to retire after 41 years with the county.

A native of Circleville, Alley spent two summers of her high school years working in the county appraiser’s office.

“I sat at a table with a map in front of me, put an overlay over it and would count how many acres were included with a property,” Alley said.

When Alley graduated in 1976 from Jackson Heights, she started working full time in the appraiser’s office. 

“Back then when you got a new vehicle, you came to the appraiser’s office first to fill out a card and then we’d send you to the treasurer’s office,” she said. 

At the end of the summer in 1978, Alley married Lyle Alley, and she joined him at Burr Oak where he was teaching and coaching at the high school. 

The couple moved back to Circleville a year later, and Alley returned to the Courthouse in 1981 as a county clerk employee under Edna Brock.

She left her position between 1984 and 1988 to raise her two children and returned in 1989. In the clerk’s office, she worked alongside former longtime Jackson County Clerk Kathy Mick, who retired earlier this year. 

“Back then Kathy and I entered all the taxes and payroll by hand,” Alley said. “At some point, I became the payroll clerk and oversaw the insurance.”

Alley and county employees took classes on computers and training on various computer programs through the years as technology changed.

“It’s been a good job, and I didn’t have to drive to Topeka,” she said. “The benefits have also been good. It’s been convenient.”

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