Still Going Strong: Recruiting's 'Ms. Belle' surpasses 50 years of civil service

  • Published
  • By Bo Joyner
  • Air Force Reserve Command Public Affairs
ROBINS AFB, Ga. --  “Temporary Appointment – Not to Exceed Six Months.” That is what was written on the in-processing paperwork that awaited a young girl named Theota “Belle” Batchelor when she first reported for duty at the Warner Robins Air Materiel Area on her 19th birthday. The date was Jan. 26, 1966.

With a high school diploma from Fort Valley High School in her hand and a love for typing and spelling, young Belle eagerly accepted a GS-2, Step 1 clerk-typist position in the cost accounting office at WRAMA. Her annual pay? A grand total of $3,814.

Little did she know at the time, but that “temporary appointment” would turn into a distinguished civil service career that has spanned more than half a century. “Ms. Belle” Fisher, as she is more commonly known these days throughout Headquarters Air Force Reserve Command at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, celebrated 50 years of government service earlier this year.

And at the age of 69, she has no plans of retiring any time soon.
“I remember a few years ago when (former AFRC Recruiting Service commander) Col. Mike Mungavin retired, and I asked him how he knew it was time to go. He told me, ‘If you’re asking me that question, you’re not ready. You will know when it’s time. There will be no doubt.’ Well, I still have doubt, so I guess it’s not time yet,” Ms. Belle said during a recent interview from the AFRC Recruiting Service office where she has worked since January 1997.

“I joke with Col. Christopher Nick (the current AFRC Recruiting Service commander) that it’s his fault I’m still here. If he would just give me one bad boss, I would be gone. But he keeps giving me wonderful bosses,” she said.

Miss Belle’s civil service career has taken her from WRAMA to Yokota Air Base in Japan, then to Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina, followed by Misawa AB, Japan, and back to Robins. She went from being a clerk-typist to an accounting technician to the head cashier in an accounting and finance office to a secretary to an editorial assistant and finally to a marketing specialist.

There have been a lot of highlights in Ms. Belle’s long career, and most of those revolve around helping other people. During the Vietnam War and the years that followed, she was a fixture at American Red Cross blood drives on base. “I donated every time they let me,” she said. “I figured if I couldn’t go over there and help, I wanted to do everything here I could to help.” In all, she gave more than five gallons of blood.

While she was working at Seymour Johnson in the early 1990s, her husband was deployed with the local civil engineering squadron in support of Operation Desert Shield. “There were a lot of young CE troops who deployed, leaving behind young wives and little babies,” she said. “The CE commander asked if I could help out the wives.” Of course, she said yes. And she did everything she could to support and encourage a group of young wives and mothers who were separated from their husbands for the first time.

Over the years, Ms. Belle has worked her way from GS-2 all the way to GS-11. … and she has loved every minute of it.

“I don’t enjoy getting up at 4:40 every morning (it takes Ms. Belle about 40 minutes to get to work from her home outside of Perry each day), but once I get here, I’m in hog heaven,” she said. “I love what I do and love all the people I get to work with.”

The feeling is mutual for Ms. Belle’s co-workers.

“It is an honor and pleasure to work with Ms. Belle,” said Larry Lee, AFRC Recruiting Service executive officer. “She is as conscientious as anyone I've ever worked with and is very committed to her work. She has compassion for all others and is always looking for the good in people. Whenever she is not at work, which is rare, it is as if something is amiss. The Air Force and Air Force Reserve have gotten their money's worth with this employee for 50-plus years of superior service. … and she isn't done yet. She’s a woman of great integrity and character.”

“I've had the opportunity to work side by side with Ms. Belle during my time in the Advertising Division of the Recruiting Service, and she was the first person to introduce herself and offer up any assistance I needed in order to get settled into the position,” said Senior Master Sgt. Garrett Martin, the Recruiting Service chief of training. “I knew from that initial meeting that she would become more than a co-worker or a casual acquaintance but a good friend.

“Ms. Belles' life experiences draw people to her. She has that big-hearted, kind-natured personality that naturally attracts people to confide in her and look to her for advice. Being one of the many who have gone to Ms. Belle for advice, she is always willing to take the time for you. She listens without judgement, and she provides sound, honest advice -- maybe not exactly what you want to hear. Ms. Belle exudes the Air Force core values as an example civil servant.”

"Ms. Belle is a Recruiting Service icon who is loved and respected by all past and present Recruiting Service members,” said Chief Master Sgt. Thomas Zwelling, Recruiting Service superintendent. “She is so respected within recruiting that the Recruiting Service Chiefs Group unanimously made her an honorary chief. This honor has only been bestowed upon one other member of Recruiting Service."

"Ms. Belle is one the most loyal and dedicated individuals I have the pleasure of working with, she puts her heart in to her job and does it with love every day,” said Chief Master Sgt. Darin Thomas, chief of the Recruiting Service’s Advertising and Marketing Branch. “She is truly an icon in Air Force Reserve Recruiting Service. Ms. Belle is more than a coworker, she keeps me grounded and teaches me through her actions and daily conversations on how to always remain humble."

About the only thing more important to Ms. Belle than her job is her family. She lives on a piece of land that has been in the Batchelor family for more than 110 years. Her mother, Vonda Batchelor, who will turn 90 this year, lives right up the road. Her son, Allen Engle, and brother, Alan Batchelor, have houses on the same road, as do a couple of cousins. Her daughter, Tammy LeBarre, lives two miles down the road. Ms. Belle has three grandchildren, Heather Benefield, Michael LeBarre and Mason Engle, that she adores.

“We love riding four-wheelers in the country and swimming, and I love cutting grass,” Ms. Belle said. She also loves vacationing in Helen, Georgia, each Memorial Day and Labor Day.

“I’ve been going there for 34 years,” she said. “I stay in the same hotel every year, and they still give me the same rate – the old-timer’s rate they call it.”

Over the past half century, this “old-timer” has reported to work for almost 13,000 days. She has been on the clock for about 104,000 hours. If she doesn’t feel well and needs to take a day off, she has about 3,500 hours of sick leave sitting in the bank. A lot of people joke with Ms. Belle that when she does finally retire, Robins AFB will have to shut down. While that might not be quite true, it is safe to say that the people who work with Ms. Belle hope her retirement is not coming any time soon. And when she does finally call it quits, Robins AFB will not be the same place without her.

(Editor’s note: Master Sgt. Chance Babin, AFRC Recruiting Service, contributed to this story.)