By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer
An Auburn Hall assistant retires after exactly 50 years on the job

AUBURN – The old boys in the city offices figured she’d last a few months, back when she started.

“I said that if I liked it, I might stay around for five years or so,” June Thompson said. “And here it is, 50 years later.”

Thompson, a fixture in the city manager’s office since June 4, 1956, is finally ready to retire. Officially, the job ends Sunday, June 4, making it an even 50 years.

“They were asking me, trying to find out if I could be serious about this job,” Thompson said. “They didn’t want to hire me, I guess, if I was just going to walk out the door. I didn’t.”

Thompson began her city career as secretary for the Auburn Business Development Corp.’s executive director. A few months later, she moved into the city manager’s office. She’s been the administrative assistant ever since.

One of her first tasks was to survey city businesses. She went from street to street with a notebook, gathering names and noting their specialty. That became a database for city leaders and an economic development tool long before they had computers.

“Economic development has always been a fascinating thing to deal with,” Thompson said Thursday. “You deal with all of these people and find out what they need to relocate there. You show them the places, you show them the community. It really has not changed much over the years.”

The city has, however. She watched proudly as it changed from a bedroom community for Lewiston to an economic power in its own right.

Back then, city offices, police and district court shared the same 45 Spring St. address. That building was torn down two years ago, but she has all the stories – from the time back in the 1960s when two city councilors squared off in the building’s dooryard to the night a pip-squeak sailor, arrested for disorderly conduct, tore out some wires and shut down the police department for the night.

“It had to be interesting work,” Thompson said. “I could not have been here for 50 years if it wasn’t.”

She’s certainly left her mark.

“June’s irreplacable,” said Economic Development Director Roland Miller. He’s relied on her several times throughout his career to help bringing in new projects.

“She brings her dedication to Auburn, her enthusiasm and knowledge and her history in the community to every project she works on,” Miller said. “It’s institutional knowledge. She has it, and we’ll really miss it.”

City Manager Pat Finnigan, Thompson’s boss, said she has always been a hard worker.

“She’s helped a lot of people, and I think she learned something new every day she was here,” Finnigan said.

Thomspon was glad to move to Auburn Hall, but admits she missed the close contact the old city offices offered.

“We are a good deal more separated from everyone now,” she said. “It’s nice. It’s a very pretty building, but it’s not as warm as the old one was.”

She avoids fusses. She made her Auburn Hall colleagues swear to keep her retirement party simple. They’re planning a quiet luncheon in one of the building’s board rooms this afternoon.

It’s always been that way, she said. She usually had a hand in planning the big events, but tried to melt into the background when it was time to go onstage.

“When we’d do a big press conference, I had no problem setting up all the details,” she said. “Then, I’d go home and get in a bath where nobody could find me.”

She has simple plans for retirement: some home-repair projects, maybe a visit from her stepson in Oklahoma. And her sister Janice has hinted at a visit to Florida, if she can convince June to get on the airplane.

“I don’t fly,” Thompson said. “I told her, We can drive,’ but she said we’ll be flying.”