NEW SHARON – It was nearly 30 years ago that Miriam Smith was appointed the town’s treasurer. Every year since then, she was elected to watch over the town’s finances.

But this year, she’s putting away her books and letting someone else run for the position.

“I liked the job. It was nowhere near as hectic then as it is now,” Smith, 76, said. “There is a lot more to do.”

She still uses a manual Royal typewriter that sits on a table in the corner of her dining room to type out tax forms.

The dining room table serves as her desk at home. An adding machine rests on top. What’s not there is a computer. She does most of her work by hand.

“It is time for me to step down and let some younger person do it,” she said. “Of course everything is computerized these days. Besides I’m getting too old to do it.”

The auditors and selectmen would like to see everything on the computer. She does enter some things on a computer at the town office with Selectmen Maynard Webster helping her, she said.

When she started, she was paid a few hundred dollars a year. Now she gets $7,100.

“I’m going to miss that,” she said.

Smith grew up in Temple, and graduated as valedictorian of the Class of 1951 at Farmington High School.

“I took the commercial course,” she said. “I went to work right after graduation. I graduated on a Tuesday night and went to work at People’s National Bank in Farmington on Thursday.”

She worked in the bookkeeping department in the bank, which was located where Kyes Insurance Building is now.

After 12 years on the job, she quit and married Albert Smith. The couple moved to New Sharon where Albert was born. They have been together nearly 50 years and have two children, Arnold of Auburn and Naimi Smith-Vieno of Finland.

Smith agreed to take the treasurer’s position after then Treasurer Gerald Grant died, she said.

Selectman Howard Bailey asked Smith if she would like the job in 1979, since she had been in the banking profession.

The town treasurer handles the town’s money, pays the bills, keeps the books of accounts and does the payroll and tax withholding for employees.

“I like all the aspects of the the job,” she said. “There is a lot of work to it.”

During her tenure, the town’s population of about 700 when she started has about doubled.

“I enjoy working with numbers,” she said. “I like to meet the people. … I’ve made some friends.”

After March 7, she has plans. That’s the annual town meeting date when a new treasurer will be nominated from the floor.

As for her future: “I’m going to clean my house. I’m going to clean out my cupboards and drawers and throw away my holey socks. I’m going to relax. We’re going to keep busy as a couple and do daily things. I’m going to miss this job. I’ve worked under a lot of nice people who served as selectmen during the time I’ve been treasurer.”