It was the proverbial week from hell. Amid retiring from her position as city clerk of South Tucson, Dolores Robles lost a half-sister to leukemia and had to prepare for her only son’s upcoming wedding in Nogales.
Despite the chaos, Robles said her mid-May retirement party was “touching.” She has worked for South Tucson since March of 1970. Robles’ party included toasts, speeches from colleagues and people she had helped; and plaques and framed tributes, which Robles now proudly displays in her home.
“Everyone just seemed so appreciative,” she said. “It was hard not to cry.”
Richard G. Salaz, director of planning and zoning, director of transportation and flood control and personnel director for South Tucson, said Robles is missed around the office. Salaz and Robles worked together for more than 30 years.
“She was just a pleasant person to be with,” Salaz said. “She’s a nice lady.”
Since Robles’ retirement, Veronica Moreno, Salaz’s assistant, has taken over the duties of the city clerk for an unspecified amount of time. Moreno, a 15-year city employee, said she is enjoying her new job, despite having a double workload. Moreno said the city is not currently looking for another city clerk. She began preparing for the transition in April, with Robles’ guidance.
Robles began working as a traffic clerk in 1970, after a former Pueblo High School friend helped her apply. She earned “about $3 an hour” and moved around to various jobs until becoming the City Clerk in 1990, a transition that “just happened naturally.”
“I just fell into place there. I enjoyed working for the city, that’s why I kept doing it,” Robles said. “The city of South Tucson really became my second home.”
Her only absence was a yearlong hiatus in 1977 after the birth of her second child.
“There was just so much to do, and every year it’s different but you learn a lot in the process,” Robles said.
“But I didn’t hate it,” she was quick to add, laughing.
Despite her modesty, Robles has used her retirement time to reflect, and has decided that she did her community right.
“I’m really proud of the work I did – I accomplished all of my tasks,” she said. “I did a good job and I contributed very well to my community.”
Despite her new free time, of which she says her husband John is jealous, Robles has managed to keep busy, and still wakes up around 6 a.m. In addition to taking care of her four grandchildren, having lunch with former colleagues and planning projects around the house, Robles plans Wednesday night “family night” meals for her children and their families. She and John also host weekend cookouts in their backyard.
And when she is not reading, usually non-fiction, or taking care of her mother who still lives in Robles’ childhood home next door, she is planning her family’s annual religious pilgrimage to Magdalena de Kino in Sonora, which they plan to do at the end of September.
