Verna Campbell, the ‘voice of Riverhead Town Hall’ for nearly four decades, 90

Verna Campbell, who for 37 years was the face and voice of Riverhead Town Hall, died yesterday at age 90.

The effervescent Town Hall receptionist greeted visitors with a big smile and answered every call with a signature melodic greeting: “Hello! Riverhead Town Hall!”

Any caller who asked how she was doing got an inevitable reply: “Wonderful! Wonderful!”

A Riverhead native and lifelong resident, Verna knew most people who crossed the threshold of Town Hall by name and newcomers weren’t strangers for long with Verna seated at the receptionist’s desk.

Verna served in the administrations of seven town supervisors. When she started working as the Riverhead Town Hall switchboard operator, the man who occupied the corner office, Supervisor Allen Smith, was someone she babysat for when he was a toddler.

She was friendly and loved talking to people, a real “people person,” which is why she sat for the Civil Service exam to become a switchboard operator in the 1970s, she told RiverheadLOCAL when she announced her retirement in September 2014.

She explained her attitude toward answering the busy Town Hall switchboard: “When someone calls here for the first time, they don’t want someone who’s going to be grouchy,” she said. “They want someone who’s going to be pleasant and puts them in the right mood.”

It was Verna’s knack for putting people “in the right mood” that helped her retain her job in an increasingly digital world. Though she began her work at Town Hall long before the days of computer-generated phone prompts and voice mail, town officials resisted installing an automated system for years after the technology was commonly used in offices. Verna, they said, helped Riverhead retain its small-town feel.

Her cheerful disposition was unaffected by hardships in her life, including a diagnosis of ovarian cancer in 1985. She survived and showed her appreciation by raising money for the American Cancer Society by selling daffodils during the organization’s Daffodil Days fundraiser every spring.

The illness underscored the blessing of her job with benefits and made her even more grateful for it, she recalled in an interview before her retirement.

In January 2012, Verna endured another life-changing hardship when an early-morning blaze swept through her lifelong family home on East Second Street. She and her daughter, who lived in a second-floor apartment escaped with only the clothes on their backs.

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

“I’ve been very, very blessed in life,” she told RiverheadLOCAL in a March 2013 interview, following a surprise birthday party thrown for her by colleagues at Riverhead Town Hall.

“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.”

Though she began her work at Town Hall long before the days of digital phone prompts and voice mail, town officials resisted installing an automated system for years after the technology was commonly used in offices.

Visitation will take place on Friday, May 19, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at Community Baptist Church on Sound Avenue in Riverhead. A funeral service will be held at the church at 12 noon. Interment will follow at Riverhead Cemetery. See full obituary.