Danville Register & Bee
Published: May 7, 2008

Updated 11:59 p.m.

Pittsylvania County Treasurer Shirley Simpson is being remembered as a diligent worker who will be missed by not only her family, but also those she served in government.

Simpson, 64, died Wednesday at Duke University Medical Center after a lengthy illness.

She succumbed to a prolonged infection that formed after she underwent a colonoscopy in November, her husband Russell Simpson said Wednesday.

“She was the best person I know of,” he said. “She’d do anything for anybody.”

Simpson had been elected in November to her third four-year term as treasurer. She was a county government veteran, having worked in the treasurer’s office in Chatham for 30 years.

County officials recalled Simpson as diligent and said she helped bring the treasurer’s office into the 21st century. The treasurer collects, protects and disburses county funds, including taxes and fees.

County Administrator Dan Sleeper said Simpson’s death was “a shock to us,” and that she was instrumental in shifting the office’s operations from paper to electronic.

“She brought that office from written books into the computer age,” Sleeper said.

Before becoming treasurer, Simpson worked under two previous office holders, Evan Brumfield and Glenn Brown, whom she replaced.

“She was a hard worker,” Chatham-Blairs Supervisor Hank Davis said Wednesday. “She had earned the right to be treasurer when she ran.”

Davis praised Simpson’s efforts in selling delinquent properties in the county, increasing its revenues by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Her husband said she also helped residents who owed taxes any way she could.

“She really tried to work with taxpayers if they owed or couldn’t pay,” Russell Simpson said. “She’s really going to be missed.”

Chief Deputy Treasurer Donna Hudson is performing Simpson’s duties, Sleeper said. A permanent replacement will likely be chosen in November’s general election, he said.

---------------

Pittsylvania County Treasurer Shirley Simpson has died.

Simpson, 64, was elected to her third term in November and worked in the county treasurer’s office for 30 years, said Will Scott, of Scott Funeral Home.