My heart almost stopped a few months ago when Beth Grauel came in my office with a look on her face that I knew wasn’t good news. She let me know that she is retiring September 15th after 33 years of working as IPC’s Manager of Accounting. My favorite saying when I talk about people leaving is that “everyone is replaceable, but some are harder than others to replace.” Beth absolutely fits the harder than others to replace category.  In fact, in all my years of working with people, she is at the top.

In case you don’t know Beth very well, I’d like to share a few things with you about her. She is 100% dependable, never leaves her desk to go chit chat in the hall, arrives on time everyday, and leaves either on time or late. In fact, I mentioned to Jonathon (our guard) on my way out last night that Beth would be leaving. His immediate response was that she is always one of the last ones out of the building.

Beth is also quiet. She takes her work seriously which is obviously good for someone in her role. For you as church members, this is very important because you know that you can trust her with your information. No one has ever had to worry about their social security number, birthday, pledge amount, or other confidential data being used inappropriately. The staff love her because we all know that we can depend on her to process our paychecks accurately and timely, and she makes sure that the church bills (and there are a lot of invoices to pay) are paid timely and recorded accurately.

To put in perspective how much Beth has accomplished in her 33 years at IPC, here are some fun facts:

• Beth has processed over 66,000 checks
• Beth has processed over 79,200 payroll checks – that may be surprising but don’t forget that the IPC Day School employs a lot of part time teachers not to mention the Children’s Fresh Air Farm teachers in the summer months
• She has worked with 9 senior pastors including interim pastors.  You might be interested to know who they are: Scott McClure, Morgan Roberts (interim), Jim Carter, Jerry Shetler (interim), Conrad Sharps, Lucy Turner (interim), Bill Carl, Steve Goyer (interim) and Kevin Long.

Please take the opportunity in the coming weeks to wish Beth well in her retirement. We will be collecting a gift to let her know how much we appreciate all that she has done for IPC, so feel free to send a check or go online and make a donation in honor of Beth Grauel.

We are also so pleased to announce and welcome Amanda Moore as IPC's new Accountant following Beth's retirement.