Marion County employees honored for 40 years of service years ago
From drownings to pulling furniture into the courthouse attic with ropes, Snelling and Cogdill have seen it all
Staff writer
With 40 years under their belts as Marion County employees, Jim Cogdill and Dale Snelling have seen it all.
Jim Cogdill, better known to most people as Butch, currently works as the culvert foreman for the county's road and bridge department, while Snelling is the Marion County Lake superintendent.
Since going to work for Marion County on Dec. 3, 1962, when he was just 18 years old, Cogdill has worn many hats and done just about everything imaginable, be it carrying people in the courthouse, to patching roads, to being on flood watch.
"My job is culvert foreman and whatever duties 'deemed necessary by supervisor'," Cogdill said with a laugh. "That statement — a jack of all trades and master of none — is definitely the story of my life."
For Snelling, he's spent 38 years running the lake after taking on that job in 1964. He went to work for the county at the age of 24, starting with the road department in July 1962.
"It's definitely been a good haul," Snelling agreed, talking about his 40 years with the county. "There are quite a few ups and downs."
In December, the two were honored during the county's annual Christmas party, each receiving engraved knives. In November, each received recognition for their years of service from the Kansas Association of Counties.
Decades of change
When the two men went to work for the county in 1962, they both worked in the road department. Cogdill grew up in Hillsboro and had moved to Marion in 1957, while Snelling was from south of Florence.
"We didn't know each other, but our dads did," Snelling said. "They were both county employees."
Cogdill has spent a lot of time hand-patching roads. Snelling started on the oil gang working as a roustabout during the summer.
"I rode on the side of that truck next to the oil. It'd be 312 degrees in that tank and I'd be covered with oil," Snelling said in his clipped way. I'd have to use kerosene to get it off. It's a hot, black, dirty job."
A self-described "outdoor person," Dale was one of about 15 people who applied for the job of lake supervisor when it came open in 1964. He is only the third person to hold the job in the history of the lake.
Right after beginning his lake job, Snelling had his first experience dealing with a tragedy.
"About the second week I was here, a young lady in town and a friend came out here. That girl shot herself," he said.
That wasn't the first tragedy to occur at the lake. A vivid memory for both Snelling and Cogdill is dragging the lake for the body of a young man who had drowned.
"That kid went out after an inner-tube and he just kept going further and further out. Pretty soon, he was gone," Snelling said.
It was early in the spring and the moss was thick, creating a covering which probably was trapping the body. So, Snelling built a moss drag out of angle iron to be used in the dragging operation.
"For three days and three nights they drug that thing around," Snelling recalled, shaking his head. "Finally, on the third morning, they found his body on a jetty. He was a 25-year-old kid from Chicago who had just graduated from college."
Not only has the lake been the source of most of Snelling's memories, but has also played a role in many of Cogdill's.
"Someone would say 'Dale needs help' and out we'd go," Cogdill said. "So I've picked up dead deer, done tornado cleanup. We're here to serve the public.
"I remember going out and helping Dale on a Saturday pull out barrels. The water was up after some heavy rains and we were afraid they were going to float away," Cogdill said.
Water also played a part in one of Cogdill's more unusual job assignments.
"I sat on Siebert's Road for three days straight in 1993 making sure no one went down that road. It was closed because of the flooding," he explained. "You can block a road and people will move the barricade. They won't believe it's flooding unless they see it for themselves."
While sitting at a barricade was just one job he was assigned over the years, most of Cogdill's work has been much more physical.
"Before we had the elevator, I'd help carry people in wheelchairs into the courthouse and up the steps," he said.
Over the years, Cogdill and other road department employees have routinely completed jobs like moving files to the courthouse attic to be stored. And not just manilla folder files, but the file cabinets themselves.
"We'd have to use ropes to pull it into the attic," he said. Not only did they move files to the attic, but also old furniture and whatever else needed to be stored.
A few years later, they'd have to reverse the process and cart the files down again to be destroyed.
"We got smart and began throwing it (paper) out the window onto a truck," he said. However, cabinets and the like still had to be moved manually.
Cogdill said his most memorable and dangerous job as a county employee occurred "a long time ago" when he was called on to help move stolen ammunition out of a house in Burns.
"Now, you have to remember this was at a time when there were only two county vehicles — one belonged to the sheriff and the other belonged to the undersheriff," Snelling interjected. "So, there weren't all kinds of law enforcement people around to handle this."
Cogdill was also called on once to help move an 800-pound Peabody man.
But despite the various job assignments, Cogdill said it's all part of the job.
"I don't really mind helping people," he said. "I've run the motor grader, drove a truck, cut trees. I get to go around and see all the county."
Helping people and dealing with them is also a major part of Snelling's job at the lake.
"I mow grass, clean toilets, act as a policeman, and get to do a little bit of everything," Snelling said. "It makes a paycheck."
Serving as a "policeman" is a big part of Snelling's job. And it's a job with long hours. The days typically begin at 6 a.m. and can last past midnight.
"I gotta take care of the swimmers and the other people out here. Sometimes I've got to scold them, sometimes I give them a ticket."
For Snelling, Marion County Lake isn't just a job, it's his life and his business. He and his wife, Loretta, live at the lake, and operate the store inside the lake office.
"Loretta came along as part of the package when I started," he said with a laugh. "But she only began getting paid as a county employee about 15 years ago. We raised four kids here."
Snelling, who doesn't know a stranger, said he likes his job.
"You get to meet a lot of people here, both good and bad," he said. "But I like to meet them all. My wife hates to go places with me. She says I know everybody."
Snelling turned 61 in early December and plans to stay at the lake about three years or so before retiring. Cogdill said he'll probably stay on with the county about that same length of time before he begins to think seriously about retiring.
"But then again, I might just do it sooner," he said with his blue eyes twinkling.
