Glendene Goucher
As a young mother of two children with a husband who was temporarily disabled, Glendene Goucher initially intended to work only one year when on May 1, 1963, she became secretary to Hal Everett, the first city manager of the City of Clinton. She retired 35 years later, on April 30, 1998. In that time she opened the way for city clerks in Oklahoma to receive in-state training for professional certification.
She stayed on at city hall after that first year and in 1964 became deputy city clerk to City Clerk Fred Roniger who also served as City Manager. When he left in 1969 she was named Acting City Clerk for five months until she was officially promoted in November to City Clerk.
When elected in 1981 to the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Municipal Clerks Glendene was the only one of 21 board members who did not hold the Certified Municipal Clerk designation. But, in 1983 she became the first City Clerk from Oklahoma to receive the designation by attendance at an institute recognized by the IIMC. She achieved this by attending three annual institutes at the University of Kansas. Glendene was then instrumental in working with other municipal officials and Oklahoma State University to gain IIMC recognition in 1984 for the Oklahoma Municipal Clerks Institute, a project she initiated in 1979. IIMC honored her in 1988 with the Quill Award for significant and exemplary contribution to community and state, IIMC, and peers. She is the first of only three Oklahomans to have received this award since it was established in 1987.
In 1970 she became a member of the Municipal Clerks, Treasurers & Finance Officials Association of Oklahoma. She eventually held all elective offices in the association and in 1984 received the Outstanding Service Award. Glendene was appointed to two three-year terms on the Oklahoma Advisory Committee for Municipal Clerks & Treasurers State Training Division from 1984 through 1990. Her service has been recognized with the 1975 “Woman of the Year” award from the Clinton Business & Professional Women’s Club, the 1984 “First Lady of the Year” designation by Beta Sigma Phi International, and in 1992 as a member of the IIMC Academy for Advanced Education.