(This week The Columbian-Progress spotlights Marion General Hospital Administrative Assistant Wanda Morgan.)
Q: When and where were you born?
A: I was born in Walthall County on Jan. 11, 1954.
Q: Where did you attend school?
A: I went to West Marion from first grade through 12th, then I attended Pearl River Community College and got a degree in secretarial science.
Q: Where do you work? Tell us about your job/company.
A: I’m the administrative assistant at Marion General Hospital. I just try to keep the office running and the overall responsibilities of the office in assisting the administrator with anything I can do for her. I answer the telephone and greet employees as they come in. This is more or less the central office of the hospital. Leadership is in and out; employees are in and out. I try to take care of anything they may have need of.
Q: What led you to your profession?
A: A friend called me and asked me if I was interested in working part time as a typist here. I came to work here, and it led into different positions. I took on the role as administrative assistant in February 1982, and I’ve been here ever since.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
A: People and interacting with the individuals. With this office I have the opportunity to deal with the general public and a lot of the elected officials because we’re a county-owned facility. I get to interact with the people at City Hall as well. And I like interacting with the employees. I’m a people person and just enjoy being around others and helping them any way I can.
Q: What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
A: Multitasking because in here you may be doing one project then the phone rings, and you have to completely change your way of thinking and deal with whatever the matter is at that time.
Q: What is the most important lesson you have learned in your career?
A: Be careful in what I say so that it’s not misinterpreted. In this office there’s a lot of confidential information, and I have to know the difference in what I can and can’t share.
Q: When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: I pondered being a secretary and a teacher, but I never was truly focused on any one career. Once I graduated I decided to go to Pearl River and take a secretarial course.
Q: What was your first job?
A: I worked in the summer between my senior year and first college year at Rutter Rex buttoning shirts. That was quite interesting.
Q: Who are the people who have been most influential in your life?
A: I would say my parents, Everett and Linda Stringer, and my husband, Ken Morgan. Growing up my parents taught me my values, and I got to grow up in a Christian home. My husband, I like to think we complement one another, and he has been my hero throughout my life.
Q: Do you have children?
A: I have two children, Krystal Graves and Krae Morgan. Maggie Morgan is my daughter-in-law, and I have three grandchildren.
Q: If you could have anything for your last meal on earth, what would it be?
A: Fried shrimp, baked sweet potatoes and a green salad.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: I’ve always wanted to go to Alaska.
Q: What hobbies do you like to do in your spare time?
A: There’s very little spare time, but I enjoy working in the yard. That’s therapy for me and not work. Ken is responsible for mowing the yard, and I maintain the flower beds. We have quite a bit of acreage so there’s always something to do in the yard. I like spending time with my four sisters. I like to do trips with friends and my sisters.
Q: What do you enjoy about Columbia and Marion County?
A: I was born and reared here so I just enjoy the beauty of the county and the fact that everybody knows everybody. It’s just a close-knit community.
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone from your life or history, who would it be and why?
A: My grandmother, Ina Lee Stringer. She was my father’s mother. She was just a special lady in my life and had a lot of influences on me. I would just like that opportunity one more time.
Q: If you didn’t have to worry about money, what would you do all day?
A: I have always had a love for old people — and this is one of the things I’d like to do when I retire — and I would like to visit older people and just help out. I’d like to be a listener for them or if they need something done I could do that for them. If they need to go to the doctor’s office, I could take them there. Just spend time with them because I think there is a need for that. People are so busy now that sometimes the older people are forgotten.
Q: What moment in your life has had the biggest impact on who you are today?
A: I would say the birth of my children in that accepting the responsibility of them and knowing I had those responsibilities of steering them in the right direction to be productive citizens and good people. Also being a Christian and having the leadership of the Lord to be the person I need to be.
Q: Using one word for each, what are your top three morals?
A: Caring, dependability and honesty.
Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: That I loved people and those that I came in contact with saw that I do care.
—Joshua Campbell
