DIXFIELD — After Vickie Carrier’s 33 years of work as deputy town clerk and tax collector for Dixfield, her family, friends and co-workers agreed on one thing Friday afternoon: Her retirement would be a huge loss for the town.

Carrier’s last day of working at the Town Office as deputy town clerk is June 30, and ahead of her retirement, her co-workers closed the Town Office Friday afternoon for two hours to hold a retirement celebration at the Ludden Memorial Library.

Carrier’s friends and family were invited to attend, along with town employees and residents who knew her and wanted to wish her well in her retirement.

Town Manager Carlo Puiia, who has worked with Carrier since he was hired by the town in 2014, said she was a “very confident” municipal employee who “made any town manager or selectman look good.”

“She has good organization skills, good people skills, and was always diligent in keeping up with everything that was going on,” Puiia said.

He said the best word to describe her was “professional.”

“She’s earned the respect of her community through her actions, and she’s earned my respect in the years I’ve been here in the way she manages the responsibilities she has,” Puiia said. “I’ve definitely learned a lot from her. She has a very genuine love of the community and really cares about the citizens.”

Police Chief Jeff Howe said that it has been “fantastic” to work alongside Carrier, citing her ability to keep track of the Police Department’s financial reports and her vast knowledge of the townspeople.

“She knows generations of people, and knows where people have moved to, or where they’re living right now,” Howe said. “She just knows a lot about the town.”

Carrier even received a visit Friday from former Town Manager Don Willard, who now serves as the town manager of Raymond.

Willard was hired in 1983 as Dixfield’s first town manager. Around the same time, Carrier was hired as deputy town clerk and tax collector.

“When I was hired in Dixfield, it was as the first town manager in Dixfield,” Willard said Friday. “I had attended the University of Maine Public Administration Program, and it was my first time serving as a town manager. Vickie had just gotten hired in Dixfield, too, so we were all figuring things out as we went along.”

Vickie was a “real professional,” he added.

“It was interesting to be able to build it from the bottom up,” Willard said. “We all learned a lot from each other.”

Puiia presented Carrier with a plaque with a clock built into the center.

The plaque also featured an engraving at the bottom that stated, “May the clock above serve as recognition of the many hours you dedicated to faithfully serving the fine citizens of Dixfield.”

As for Carrier, she said after 33 years of working for the town of Dixfield, she’s planning on “relaxing” and taking things “one day at a time.”

mdaigle@sunmediagroup.net