Marilyn Thurnau is retiring from the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency in Rock Port, Missouri, after 30 1/2 years of service.

After dedicating 30 1/2 years of her life serving the Farm Service Agency in Rock Port, Missouri, Marilyn Thurnau is retiring. As the program technician, Marilyn has been responsible for payment limitation, the marketing (commodity) assistance loans for corn and soybeans, the market facilitation program, and the non-insurable assistance program. In the past she was also the administrative clerk and did farm record updates.

Marilyn said it’s been an absolute pleasure working with the area farmers over the years, including three generations of producers. And though the office used to be run by several and is now run by just a few, the greatest change she’s seen in her 30 plus years has been computerization. Even though computers make things easier sometimes, Marilyn is not a stranger to hard work. She attended college in Maryville and then worked for Montgomery Ward, before working at Craig Grain until 1988 when she began her service with the Farm Service Agency, first as a temp in Holt County and then in Rock Port. She’s raised her children alongside her loving husband, Lynn, of 47 years.

She’s looking forward to being able to spend more time with her children and grandchildren who live hours away. Marilyn said she plans to take each day of retirement as it comes, but she definitely doesn’t plan on sitting still. She’s looking forward to volunteering with her church and food pantry in Mound City and gardening and tending to her flowers, which surround her home on the bluff near Craig, looking out over the bottomland all the way to Nebraska and Kansas.

Even though she’s looking forward to retirement, Marilyn said she will definitely miss her coworkers and visiting with the producers. She added that, “It’s been an awesome career!”