Milestones

Gloria Woods, assistant supervisor for Court Clerks in Montgomery County, was beaming with pride this week after learning her daughter gave birth to a little girl, Hannah Leigh. 

It’s the first granddaughter for Woods, who also has two grandsons.

“She’s like my little princess. I waited for her for a long time,” said Woods, who previously worked as Judge Gary S. Silow’s court clerk.

Gloria Woods/Photo by Carl Hessler Jr.

Woods was seen this week proudly sharing photographs of little Hannah to her co-workers, who gushed over the cute baby photos. I’ll say one thing, little Hannah couldn’t want for a nicer “Nana.”

Hannah Leigh was born at 2:21 p.m. July 29 to the proud parents of Ashley and Sean Konzman and weighed 7 lbs 2 oz. and was 19 ½ inches long, according to Woods.

Hannah Leigh Konzman/Photo courtesy of Gloria Woods

So if you see Woods around the courthouse congratulate her on being a proud new grandmother.

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Congratulations also go out to Nancy McFarland, 78, of Lower Providence, who retired recently from the county Clerk of Courts Office where she had been employed since 2000.

“It’s been very interesting. I didn’t have any legal experience or working in a lawyer’s office. This was my first time working anywhere in the courthouse,” McFarland said on her last day on the job. “The people I worked with were great. There are a lot of young people and I enjoyed being in their company. I enjoyed working here.”

“The courthouse is not any easy place to work because there’s a lot of stress in what you do and in what you’re handling and a lot to learn all the time. It’s interesting work,” McFarland added. “I’m going to miss the people I worked with.”

McFarland was often the first voice members of the public heard if they called the clerk’s office because most recently she manned the phone lines and took all incoming calls.

“A lot of times people that called were already stressed out or angry about something so some of my calls you had to really work with them,” McFarland recalled.

McFarland previously served as an elected supervisor in Lower Providence for 20 years. From 1965 to 2000, McFarland worked in the small machine shop that she and her late husband owned.

Linda Sulock, McFarland’s supervisor, said McFarland was “always a fun person to work with.”

“She was very personable and was very accommodating to the clients no matter how disgruntled they might have been on the phone. And Nancy always had a way of making something a little less stressful by adding one of her own little comments that would break the ice and people wouldn’t be quite as upset as they were when they first called,” Sulock said.

McFarland was known for telling co-workers many stories about traveling and living in the Norristown area.

About her future plans, McFarland laughed, “Well next week I’m going to sleep until I want to get up or until the dog gives me a kiss.”

Seriously, McFarland, who has 17 grandchildren, added, “I want to do things I didn’t have time to do. When you work five days a week it doesn’t leave much time to do big projects so I would like to do some big projects. And I’m a flea market junkie. I did flea markets for 10 years and enjoyed them and I would like to see if I could get back to doing a little bit of that too.”

As we were speaking in a courthouse hallway, numerous passersby hugged her and shouted, “Nancy, I’m going to miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too,” Nancy replied, her voice quivering a bit with emotion.

Nancy, I wish you much happiness and enjoyment in your retirement.