By Bob Arnold
Working behind the window at City Hall -- meeting town residents about their concerns, answering telephones, processing payments and doing anything else the City Clerk doesn't want to do -- may seem less than an ideal job, but after working in grocery stores, cleaning houses, cutting hair and driving an ambulance, Deputy Town Clerk Cristy Griffin isn't looking at the help-wanted pages in newspapers.
"I like my job, and am happy to be going home at four o'clock," says Griffin, now in her second year working for the Town of Wesson.
In October, 2020, Griffin came off an American Medical Response (AMR) ambulance as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) to help her old friend Angela Hester, Wesson City Clerk, part-time as the Deputy Clerk. Last October, after injuring her back as an EMT -- driving and helping patients, she came on board full-time.
A Terry, Mississippi, native, Griffin has lived mostly in Crystal Springs, now just west of the town on an old 400-acre farm near Calling Panther Lake.
She recalls a childhood during the 1980s and 1990s in which she worked with her brother Jason in grocery stores managed by their parents -- a Real Value in Wesson, among others, including a Bells in Terry and Sunflower in Byram.
After earning a General Education High School Diploma from the State of Mississippi, she started a house cleaning business in 1996, which transitioned into caregiving "as my clients aged," she recounts. Along the way, she also became certified in cosmetology at Hinds County Community College (HCCC) in 2010, and then "tried operating" a beauty salon in Crystal Springs for a year, along with her house cleaning and caregiving business.
Griffin joined AMR after earning EMT certification in 2019 at HCCC -- a career cut short by her back injury after eight months on the job.
Griffin and her husband Aaron, a Clinton police officer, reared two daughters, now grown, on their old 400-acre farm, which he inherited from his grandfather -- Brandie, 26, a former police officer now employed by Renaissance Bank, and Aleaha, 24, who will graduate from the HCCC LPN program in July.
What are your hobbies? On the old farm, I raise cattle and horses, and reared my kids. Soon, I will have a garden to occupy me. I attend the First Baptist Church at Terry.
Are you a reader?
I used to be into science fiction before I became too busy.
How about music?
I listen to all kinds of music, but particularly enjoy County.
Do you enjoy movies or theater?
I watch movies on the basic television channels. In the country where I live, we have no cable or internet.
What would you do with lottery winnings if you were so lucky?
I would pay off my debts, and give back to people who have helped me to become what I am -- family, friends, others.
How would you change the world? The world has become a mean place. People don't have respect for themselves and others. I would bring back the old values -- just being nice to each other.