Winn ends Social Security career Friday

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Daily Sun photo/Janet Jacobs Polly Winn wraps up her career with the Social Security Administration in Corsicana Friday after 38 years on the job.

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June 1, 2012

Winn ends Social Security career Friday

By Janet Jacobs Corsicana Daily Sun The Corsicana Daily Sun Fri Jun 01, 2012, 09:12 AM CDT

Corsicana — Polly Winn is retiring as the district manager of the Corsicana Social Security office Friday after 38 years with the administration.

When she graduated from Blooming Grove High School, Winn said her plans were to become a special education teacher. She was already fluent in American Sign Language because both her parents were deaf.

Instead, she ended up working for Social Security because she’d been looking for a job, and her husband at the time worked for the federal government and he recommended it.

“I’ve really been blessed,” Winn said. “I was just so fortunate to find Social Security. They’ve really taken care of me, but I’ve worked hard, too. It’s very rewarding working for Social Security. You can really help people.”

Throughout, her skills with sign language have been helpful, since so few people in the administration know it. People from around Texas have come to Corsicana to meet with Winn and get help with their Social Security claims. She’s even had people come from as far away as Kansas.

“Every office I’ve worked in I’ve been able to use my skills,” she said.

Winn started in clerical support in the Bryan office, and then was promoted to a data review technician. With the advances of technology, neither of those jobs even exist in the administration anymore, she said.

In 1989, Winn was working in the Waxahachie office and applied to become the operations supervisor in Corsicana. She’s been here ever since except for short sojourns to other offices to trouble-shoot or train.

“I’ve been fortunate. Here in Corsicana we have a very good staff and good reputation,” Winn said.

The Corsicana office handles claims from Navarro, Freestone and Limestone counties, and between Social Security and Supplemental Security Income, it handles about $8 million a month.

After helping hundreds of thousands of retirees over the years, Winn has picked up a few things from their experiences. She knows what she doesn’t want to do in retirement: “I don’t want to sit at home and do nothing,” she said. “I want to be able to spend my time with family, with my grandkids. I want to be able to see them play baseball or whatever the activity is.”

Retiring will be about making good use of her time, she said. All her working life, she’s been rushing to activities, to work, to family events. Now, she’ll have the luxury of sleeping a little later in the mornings, taking morning classes at the YMCA, of traveling and dancing with her husband.

Winn and her husband have four children between them, and five grandchildren, primarily in the Metroplex. And she said she’s blessed that they’re a close-knit family, and now they’ll have more time to spend together.

“The next vacation is a family vacation,” she said. “We’re all going to the lake together.”

And although Social Security has seen a lot of changes over the years, Winn is confident it will remain in some capacity or other.

“There will always be a Social Security program, even if they have to pay for it out of the general revenue fund,” she said. “It won’t ever go away.”

Kristen Jennings, now the operations supervisor in the Corsicana office, will become the acting district manager, an assignment that will last at least 120 days or until the position is filled.

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Janet Jacobs may be reached via email at jacobs@corsicanadailysun.com. Want to “Soundoff” to this article? Email: soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com

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Winn ends Social Security career Friday

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