Years of hard work, dedication and a love for her community are what made records clerk very happy with her job, so happy that she stayed for 34 years.

Barb Wigton, 66, retired from the Bonney Lake Police Department July 1. She was the one who made calls to officers on duty and did all the record keeping at the department.

The thing that Wigton was most known for was all the community service she did for the community of Bonney Lake and Enumclaw.

She said the favorite part of her job was helping people and being able to get the services they needed as quickly as possible.

“Helping people is a big deal; you feel good about it, and you should,” Wigton said.

Some of the community service she did was called the Sumner Giving Tree. Wigton, the department and the Sumner School District worked together on the program. The purpose of this was to provide families with Christmas gifts or anything they may have needed.

She also worked with the Pierce County Toys for Tots Marine program. This involves people from the community donating toys and whatever else may help families in need during the Christmas season.

“You know it wasn’t mega dollar items, but things you know could help a family out around Christmas,” Wigton said.

According to Wigton, there was a huge response from the schools in the area related to the programs she was involved in at Christmas time.

She said the Sumner schools are the ones who are going to continue the program since she is now retired.

“There’s no way I could have done this all myself,” she said.

Wigton also volunteered with the Lions 4 Kids group, which she said she is proud to be a part of.

“People were very supportive of the program because it stayed right here in the city,” Wigton said.

The department is also involved with programs for kids in need like Shop with a Cop, which helps teach kids that police are not bad people and they can go to a police officer whenever they are in trouble or need help.

Wigton is retiring because she is at the age of retirement, so she figured it was time.

“You think at one point, you need a new adventure, something fresh, something different to do,” she said.

But with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to spend more time with, she isn’t too upset.

Wigton said she is going to miss working for the police department. Some of her fondest memories are there. That’s where she spent half of her time and most of her days. She said it was like a second home.

What Wigton said she will miss the most are the friends and co-workers that she was able to get close to through the years.

Now that she has some freetime, she plans to spend more time with family and friends, but also to garden more and explore parts of Washington she hasn’t seen while she was working.

“I just think it’s time to work on my own little community,” Wigton said.