MONROE — In the 37 years that Deb Ruchti has been working at Northside Elementary School, she has seen immense changes in both technology and school safety. But one thing that hasn’t changed, she said, is the students.

“Sure, they have social media and all of that, but I still get the same hugs I got when I started,” Ruchti said. “I get the same high fives, the same smiles.”

Those smiles that have brightened Ruchti’s days for nearly four decades will soon be memories she’ll keep forever as she looks toward retirement at the conclusion of this school year. She said she’s been thinking about ending her longtime career for a while, but has always changed her mind until this year. 

“Every year I would come and I’d say ‘I’m just not ready,’” she said. “I just love what I do. But there comes a time when you know it’s the right thing to do.”

When she told Northside Elementary School Principal Amy Timmerman once the school year began that this would be her last, it wasn’t a complete surprise. 

“I knew it was coming,” Timmerman said. “But I think the reality of it is difficult.”

Timmerman said Ruchti has been a mentor to her over the last 10 years she’s spent as Northside’s principal. The two work closely and have built a trust both professionally and personally. The building secretary is one of the most important jobs at the school, Timmerman said, since you never know what the day will bring. Ruchti is the first person people see when they come in, all with different needs or requests.

Ruchti has worked alongside another secretary for the last five years and Timmerman said she will likely fill the role of Ruchti with ease. Ruchti’s position will be posted in coming weeks. 

“That person has big shoes to fill,” Timmerman said. “If you think of the students, families, teachers she’s had an impact on — we’re talking thousands of people — that’s pretty remarkable. She’s watched these kids grow up.”

Ruchti said she hasn’t wavered from her decision all year, knowing it’s time for her to say goodbye. She’s grateful to her coworkers for always making her feel at home. 

“She’s going to be missed immensely,” Timmerman said. “But she’s very deserving of her retirement. We wish her well.”

Ruchti, who can often be found walking the streets in Monroe for exercise, said part of the joy she receives while out and about in Monroe is hearing the echo of children who call to her by name. She’s recognized nearly everywhere she goes. 

Ruchti is a Juda High School graduate where she grew up in a large family just north of Monroe. She said after graduation, she didn’t consider going on to school and instead landed a job in the engineering department in Monroe as an office worker at United Tel Co, now known as TDS. 

She took time off while having her two daughters and when they started school, she began volunteering at Northside. 

“I just loved it,” she said. 

She kept her eye open for a job and in 1982 started working in the kitchen for a few hours each day. She was asked to work more in the afternoons and by the end of the school year, then principal Don Sorn asked her to come and work in the office. She worked part time for three years until the full-time secretary left, and Sorn asked her to fill the role as the full time building secretary in 1985.

She said in her early years at Northside the staff was established, and through the years she’s seen several retirements and replacements, but the current younger staff Northside that surrounds her each day is exhilarating. 

“They make me feel young,” Ruchti said. “They make me feel valued and needed. I’m the ‘old kid on the block’ but they don’t think of me that way.” 

She said she’s the last of the “older” secretaries in all of the school buildings who still recalls the days before school nurses, when those in the office spent a lot of time taking temperatures and loving on students with bumps and bruises from recess. 

She has been through three principals and had an affinity for each of them for different reasons. 

“I had the three absolute best principals I could have ever asked for,” she said. “I’ve been blessed to have support from all three of them. They were all different principals in different ways, but all three were good people.”

Ruchti said along with her students and co-workers, she’ll also greatly miss the families she’s gotten to know. 

Ruchti said she’s ready to reinvent herself from Northside’s beloved building secretary. She plans to travel, volunteer, garden in a more leisurely sense, and simply see whatever else comes her way. She’s also looking forward to spending time with her husband, Bob, who retired a few years ago, and their two adult daughters and three granddaughters.

“I think they still don’t think I’m going to go,” she said with a laugh.