Aces of Trades: Mary Beck's job is to make Coshocton County a better place to live, work

COSHOCTON – She never thought she’d be where she is.

“I was number five of eight siblings (seven girls and one boy),” said Mary Beck. “My dad loved sports so all of us kids did too. We were all very athletic, playing on several state teams for River View High School. I never really dreamed of leaving this community or doing anything huge. I suppose I didn’t dream I would be doing what I am now, but I can tell you I absolutely love what I’m doing and so thankful the commissioners have entrusted me with this job.”

Today, Beck is administrator and project manager for the Coshocton County commissioners.

“In April of 1990 Dick Tompkins hired me as a payroll clerk for Coshocton County,” she explained. “In that position I also handled workers compensation, health insurance and helped with GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) reporting. In October of 1999 I then moved to the Board of County Commissioners doing the health insurance, liability and loss control. In January of 2001 I became clerk of the board of County Commissioners and then in 2008 I was promoted to administrator/clerk of the board. In February, the commissioners asked me to change my scope of work for them. While I would still remain as county administrator and run their office, they also asked that I become a project manager of all the projects they planned.

“The job has evolved over the last two years into what I am doing now,” she added. “In January of 2022 the Board of County Commissioners had several large projects starting and determined that we needed to have someone working daily on them. They then offered the job to me. I would retain my administrator position, but have the title project manager added to that.”

“Looking back,” she noted, “I never thought I would be where I am, but I couldn’t be happier with how my life has turned out.”

Beck was born in Arizona and moved to her parents’ hometown of Dresden in 1966. Two years later the family moved to Cooperdale. She graduated from River View High School and studied nursing at COTC but “didn’t like it,” so she quit in her last year. “I loved the people, but I’m not a good nurse,” she said. “I have problems with smells.” She then worked through a temp agency a couple years before going to work in the auditor’s office.

“Once the commissioners hired me,” she said, “the diversity of the things they deal with on a day to day basis was really very interesting to me. The more I got involved in the legal side, the personnel, projects, grant funding, and now with the events and expansion of Skip’s Landing and our Illumination Project, I’m more and more interested in making Coshocton County a great place to live and work.”

Robin Schonauer is the budget director for the Coshocton County Commissioners and has known Beck since seventh grade.

“I’ve worked with Mary for 23 years,” said Schonauer. “Mary is not only my co-worker, she’s a great friend.

“I’m amazed every day of the knowledge she has retained about county government,” Schonauer continued. “She has an amazing memory. In the past few years, she’s taken on a new role here at the commissioner’s office as project manager and I believe this role shows her true passion for this county and the vision she sees our county growing. Every day she has a new idea, and she works hard to see her vision come to light.”

“It started out as a job and now it feels like I’m actually doing things to improve our community,” Beck responded. “I feel like in the next 10 years this community is going to really change and grow, and we as community leaders need to be on top of how we want to shape our community. Because if we don’t move our community in the direction we want it to go, then some big conglomerate will come in and shape it the way they see fit. So I truly feel like we can make a huge difference if we all work together.”

Coshocton County Commissioners office is located at 401 1/2 Main St. For more information, call 740-622-1753 or visit www.coshoctoncounty.net.

Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs – whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at ctnews@coshoctontribune.com.

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Mary Beck oversees Coshocton County commissioners' office and projects