Barlow to retire from Clerk of Superior Court

JEFFERSON — Pam Barlow has decided that this will be her final year serving as the Ashe County Clerk of Superior Court with her retirement set for Dec. 1.

Barlow, who was born and raised in Ashe County, graduated from Ashe Central High School, Wilkes Community College and first began working in the Ashe County Clerk of Court’s office in 1996. Barlow was first elected as the Ashe County Clerk of Superior Court in 2006 and will hold that position until her retirement later this year.

When most people think of a court proceeding, they immediately think of a criminal or civil trial. However, the responsibilities of a Clerk of Superior Court go far beyond having to review and prepare documents for trial cases. Clerks are also involved with child custody cases, juvenile placement cases, adoptions, divorces, determination of guardianship and administration of estates of deceased individuals.

According to Barlow, current magistrate Sherman Lee will serve out the remainder of her term.

“I am going to miss part of it because I still love my job, my office is my family. But I want the citizens who have always supported me to know that the office is in great shape,” Barlow said. “Sherman Lee knows what he is doing and I don’t think they will miss a beat. I don’t think you will notice any changes whatsoever. Everybody has been very supportive, the judges have been supportive, they support me, they support Sherman, he has been around as either a probation officer or a magistrate for close to 30 years. He knows what he’s doing.”

Barlow said that when she told her staff last week, there were a lot of tears from the people in her office, but the office was very supportive of her decision.

“We truly are like family in here. Everybody pulls together and sticks together. They are happy for me,” Barlow said.

Barlow added that she doesn’t expect that this will be a complete ending to her time in the clerk’s office. The court system is going to an “E-Court” system where a lot of what the office does is going to go to an online service.

“We are supposed to go live either late next spring or early next summer and Sherman is going to hire me back temporary to help the office get transitioned into that. I want to see it come full circle. I have worked with a group of clerk’s conference folks for 15 or 16 years to make something like this happen. I want to see it come full circle and I want my staff to know I am not leaving them high and dry and I will support them any way that I can,” Barlow said.