Susie Clayton Hill - remembered

Susie Hill, whose latest job was comptroller for the Chancery Clerk’s office in Marshall County, is remembered for her humor and her untiring dedication to her job.

Susie passed away October 21 in the morning at Hospice at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Tupelo, after a brief bout with cancer.

Those close to Susie, who worked as a consultant after retiring as comptroller, spoke of her remarkable dedication to her work.

Hill came to the Chancery Clerk’s office in 2005 after Chuck Thomas was elected in 2004. She came to the Chancery Clerk’s office after having worked under Donnal Ash, superintendent of education for Marshall County, in the business office. She brought to the chancery clerk’s office all the skills she had acquired in the school district.

“A great person,” said Thomas. “Had a great sense of humor.” The two freely shared thoughts about scripture and spiritual things, he said.

“We conversed back and forth,” he said.

Her husband Donnie Hill, was pastor for New Hope Church in Harmontown for some years before he died. Susie went with him to all services.

Thomas said Hill was his right arm.

“But she was also my bulldog,” he said. “If you mess with me, I’m going to take this chain off her,” Thomas would say.

In Thomas’s last visit with Hill, she told him, “If I can get out, I’m going to make one more batch of bread.”

Hill was famous for baking bread as gifts and bringing it to board room.

And she was loyal.

“She had my back and had the county’s back,” Thomas said. “She wanted everybody to look good. She was very loyal, one thing you don’t see today. They don’t make `em liker her anymore. She’s definitely going to be missed by the county and by me.

“I know she had the county’s interest at heart, after she was at the school board. She worked at the central office for 12 years under Donnal Ash at the county school district and was already up to speed. She was just a fit for me.

“I wouldn’t want to be there without her, if I had it all to do over.”

Thomas said he knew Hill all his life and her dad and brother Denny.

“She was a Clayton and lived on the same road all her life,” he said.

She lived in her grandmother’s house.

Thomas retired early from office and the board of supervisors appointed Nicole Phelps to serve the remainder of his term. Thomas said when his office received three findings from the state auditor’s office, Hill challenged one of the findings and the auditor withdrew it. His office received a plaque for being the only perfect audit the county had ever received while Thomas served as chancery clerk.

Thomas recalled how Hill celebrated October Day each year at her house where she opened her house to her family and friends.

He shared one of Hill’s favorite sayings. “She said, ‘the sun doesn’t shine on the same dog all the time. But, if the sun doesn’t move, the dog will,’ ” Thomas said.

Sheriff Kenny Dickerson said he knew Hill and her family all his life.

“I knew her dad, Fred Clayton, well,” he said. “We were the best of friends, her dad and uncle Joel.”

Dickerson said he worked for the forestry service a short while and traveled to Idaho to fight fires.

“We were very close,” he said of Fred Clayton. “Susie came from the very best of people – good genetic make up and exhibited the true character of the way she was trained plus a lot more. She had a wealth of knowledge. She will be hard to replace. Everything that had to do with government – taxes, bonds – she knew it. She was one of the best friends you could ever ask to have.

“We just lost a very loyal, honest, precious person and dedicated and knowledgeable. She knew it backward and forward. She kept the board minutes. She’s been a loyal friend to me over 50 years. Whatever she did, she gave it her best.

“All her people were good, hardworking, honest people, as well.” Chancery clerk Nicole Phelps came to work under Thomas a year after Hill took over as comptroller.

“She had a great sense of humor,” Phelps said. “She came in 2005. She retired in 2020 and came back part-time.

“Ms. Susie was Marshall County. She had a conversation for everybody who came through the door. It was a good conversation. She was always baking bread and sending it when people had trouble. Her heart was genuine.

“She was always on-point. She was full of knowledge. She knew folks in government in the state and county. People always wanted Susie to help them and she was always willing to help them and wanted everybody to get along. She looked out for the board and for Chuck (Thomas). She would type up the board minutes and Amanda (board attorney Amanda Whaley Smith) would edit and proof read them.

“I remember her saying when Mr. Terry was elected mayor, she said `Mr. Terry always read my minutes.’ She was always precise how she worded things.

“She believed in the Lord, for sure. She could quote Bible scriptures. She will be missed.

“She was crazy about her grand babies. Bryce is about 10 years old and Susanna is about four or five.” Dickerson visited Susie in Hospice the evening before she died, with a number of county friends.

“She said, `Sheriff, take me home,’ and I said, `the only way I will take you home is if you will be ready to come to the next board meeting.’”

Phelps said Hill was never sick, but took blood pressure medicine.

“She was hardworking, dedicated and knowledgeable,” Phelps said. “When Donnie died, it was hard for her.”