A special birthday for town hall receptionist who lost everything in January 2012 house fire

Riverhead Town’s effervescent receptionist for nearly four decades, Verna Campbell, turns 80 today and she’ll be celebrating in a very special way: She’s moving back into her lifelong family home, which was gutted by an early-morning fire Jan. 7, 2012.

Her temporary abode, a mobile home placed on her property at the corner of Maple Avenue and East Second Street, will be removed Thursday morning — a date Campbell says she selected because she was determined to get back into her house by her birthday.

Campbell lost everything in the fire, which started in her kitchen when a box fell onto the stove, where Campbell was heating a kettle for a cup of morning tea. The box went up in flames and the flames spread rapidly through the first floor. Campbell and her daughter Bonnie Sue Luce, who lived in an upstairs apartment, escaped with only the clothes on their backs. Their three beloved cats did not survive.

But even a tragedy of that magnitude couldn’t keep Campbell’s spirit down. Her strong faith and positive outlook helped her bounce right back.

“I’ve been very, very blessed in life,” Campbell said Tuesday afternoon, following a surprise birthday party thrown for her by colleagues at Riverhead Town Hall, where she’s worked for more than 36 years.

She first went to work for town government in 1977, during the administration of then-supervisor Allen Smith. Campbell eagerly shares memories of the judge — memories that date way beyond his time as town supervisor. She was his babysitter when he was a young child. He wasn’t easy to manage, she recalls with a mischievous smile. Little did she know she’d be working for him in town government many years later.

Campbell said she was utterly surprised by the party in the town hall meeting room yesterday. “Though I probably didn’t react as I might have if I weren’t so tired,” Campbell said, confessing to staying up late Monday night to watch Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Concert on Channel 21. “I wasn’t as exuberant as I should have been.”

“I’m very thankful to be here,” she said of her post in town hall. She was not happy in her prior job. “I prayed about it,” she said, “and the Lord led me here.”

Former council members George Young, Jessie Tomlinson and Doc Menendez interviewed her- and she was selected from among 10 candidates for the post, she said.

“I have a strong faith in God that was instilled in me by my grandmother,” Campbell said. “I have put my life in the Lord’s hands and he has taken care of me.”

Campbell was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1985. She had surgery that March 21, followed by 10 months of chemotherapy.

“I was never discouraged — never,” she said. “I realized it was very serious… because it is a killer, you know. I just turned my whole life over to God. I said, dear Lord, whatever you want,” she said.

“And he kept me here.”

Fortunately for the people of Riverhead, “here” includes Riverhead Town Hall, where Campbell runs the switchboard, operates the mail machine and greets visitors, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Callers are greeted by her signature mellifluous voice — a lifelong singer, Campbell is a member of the choir at Trinity Baptist Church in Shirley.

She explains how she approaches her job answering the phones at Town Hall: “When someone calls here for the first time, they don’t want someone who’s going to be grouchy,” Campbell says with a smile. “They want someone who’s going to be pleasant and puts them in the right mood.”

“I really didn’t think I’d be here this long,” Campbell reflected, after a pause. “but I just kind of stick like glue, don’t I?”

RiverheadLOCAL photos by Peter Blasl
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