After 40 years in the treasurer’s office, one might expect Kathy Winslow to relax a little bit now that she’s retired.

But while there will be no more crunching numbers in her future, she’s still going full steam ahead with vacation and volunteerism plans.

Winslow started in the office in July 1976. She learned about the opening through a friend, Sylvia Duck, who also worked there.

She met then-treasurer Bert Hazelwood at lunchtime and he hired her on the spot, without so much as an application.

“He told me I got the job because I looked him in the eye, and that was the sign of an honest person,” Winslow said.

When Winslow first started in the office, the clerks typed four copies of each tax bill on electric typewriters and also calculated penalties and interest manually.

“It was a fun job, even back then,” she said.

Looking back on how her schooling at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy had prepared her for the job, she remembered especially her typing and government classes as key.

“Mary Williams was my government teacher,” she said. “She made it really interesting. She was a young teacher, and she held your attention.”

Winslow performed a number of roles throughout her time in the treasurer’s office. At a retirement party last week, Treasurer Ron Williams recalled how Winslow didn’t want to go when he asked her to manage the new North Suffolk office when it opened. Seven years later, when he asked her to come back to the downtown office to become the chief deputy treasurer, she didn’t want to leave North Suffolk.

But her many roles and many years had an impact on many people. Dozens of city employees, retired co-workers and even her family, many of whom drove from Richmond, were a part of the gathering last Tuesday at City Hall.

“I didn’t know so many people would come,” Winslow said. “I think I was so overwhelmed, because I didn’t know my family was going to be there. I was totally surprised.”

Winslow said she has enjoyed seeing the city grow and change and enjoyed working for the city.

“I was really happy working with the city,” she said. “It is a good place to work.”

Winslow said she plans to do some traveling in her retirement. She also hopes to spend more time with her family, which includes siblings, nieces and nephews and two great-nephews.

She also plans to continue her volunteerism at Peanut Fest and hopes to follow in her parents’ footsteps volunteering for Meals on Wheels. Her parents delivered meals together when they were both alive, she said.

“It was something they enjoyed doing together.”