Longtime Rocky Mountain secretary Brenda Brost retires

Longtime Rocky Mountain secretary Brenda Brost retires

By Haley Sanders

After almost 30 years of working for District No. 1 schools, Rocky Mountain Middle/High School secretary Brenda Brost has decided to retire. 

Brost grew up in the community and graduated from Lovell High School. After graduating, she considered becoming a teacher, but focusing on starting a family became more of a priority than pursuing college and career. Brost later began an in-home food distribution service that she ran for 10 years, which allowed her to still spend time with her family.

In 1994, Brost decided to attend Northwest College to get certification as a substitute teacher. Then came an opportunity.

“I had subbed for a year or so when the secretary at Cowley Elementary asked me if I would be interested in learning the office,” Brost said.

Brost took her up on the offer and began subbing as a secretary. The second time Brost substituted in the office, the secretary was not able to return because of medical reasons. The responsibilities fell to Brost for the rest of the year, and she has been working as a secretary for the schools ever since. 

“When I took over my position, the secretary before me was a good enough secretary that I could follow what she had done,” Brost explained. “Even though she wasn’t there, without her, I could not have had the career that I have today.”

Brost began her career as a secretary at Cowley Elementary but later worked at Rocky Middle School in Deaver. When the new combined middle school and high school was built in Cowley, she became the secretary there and has held the position ever since.

Brost shared that it was a really good job for her. It worked with her family, and she enjoyed being able to spend more time with her kids when she was working at the same schools they attended.

When asked what her favorite part of the job was, Brost quickly answered, saying the kids. 

“Just being around the kids and getting to know them has probably been my favorite part of it,” she said.

One of her favorite memories was getting to have fun with the students. When the students left the school for lunch, the doors would lock the students out. Brost would make them dance to be able to get back in, and she shared that little moments like these brought a lot of enjoyment to her. 

Brost is also very grateful for the relationships she was able to make and build with the people that she worked with. 

“I made a lot of good friends,” Brost said. “They’re more like family when you work that long with them.” 

Brost’s plans after her career are the same as they were before her career -- focusing on family. She is looking forward to spending more time with her husband and family of five children, 13 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.