After two decades of serving the public, St. Clair County Probate Judge Wallace Wyatt is retiring and said that he is looking forward to spending more time with his wife and family.

After two decades of serving the public, St. Clair County Probate Judge Wallace Wyatt is retiring and said that he is looking forward to spending more time with his wife and family.

“I turned 62 years old in May and this is something I’ve been thinking of since then,” Wyatt said. “But the first thing I want to do is thank the citizens for the privilege, opportunity and honor for serving as probate judge for right about 20 years now. I hope that the people will think that I’ve done a decent job.”

Wyatt commented about some of the drastic changes he has seen in the ever-growing county over the years. “The year before I started working here, we handled $2.5 million in revenue through the office. Now it’s up over $13 million. The county has really grown. We’ve only added four additional employees in that time in the office. I think we’d like to think that we’ve been efficient and conservative and been able to serve the county with as few employees as possible. Because this is your tax dollars at work and we have to send them out to the different entities.”

Wyatt said that he is most proud of his staff for the “outstanding” jobs they do each and every business day. “We certainly have a courteous and helpful staff here and the next probate judge is a lucky dog for being able to inherit such a wonderful staff of people. I’m leaving them the finest staff that anybody could possible ask for.”

Wyatt went to high school at Ashville where he graduated in 1964. He then went on to the University of Alabama.

In 1968, he became involved in politics. In 1975, the probate judge position became available and his father was appointed to that position by then-governor George Wallace.

“He served for 14 years in that position,” Wyatt said. “We had talked about [politics] a lot and I knew that I wanted to try it at some time. So I decided to try to run myself in 1988.”

There were eight candidates running for the position in that race with five Democrats and three Republicans all vying for the position. “We were luckily enough to win the democratic primary and then win again six years later, and again in 2000 and so on.”

Wyatt talked about the two-party system and working with other entities how he believes it all fits in when it comes down to the voters.

“Here in St. Clair County, we’re not big on party,” he said. “It just doesn’t make that much difference on the county level. I’ve also worked closely with the county commission and I believe that we have one of the finest county commissions in the state.”

He said that he has “been so lucky over the years for the people of St. Clair County to have been so good to us here and to me and my family and I’m forever indebted to the people.”

But he wanted to make a few things clear that his retirement is not a retreat. “I may be retiring, but I’m still here,” he said. “I’m still in the phone book if anybody needs to contact me or needs me for anything, they know how to contact me.”

Wyatt said that he and his wife, Brenda, are looking forward to traveling once all of his honey-do’s are taken care of and he’s rested his heels for a few months. “After that I’ll have to find something to do, because I’m pretty sure my wife won’t let me just lay around the house with nothing to do,” he said with a smile.

The couple have two daughters, Sunni, a fourth grade school teacher at Eden elementary in Pell City and Jenny, who works for NASA and resides with her husband in Huntsville.

Some of Wyatt’s fellow judges are both sad to see him retire, but happy that he is able to sew his oats in the prime of his life.

Retired judge and incoming Pell City mayor Bill Hereford said of Wyatt, “He’s just an outstanding public servant and he has to me been a role model of what a public servant ought to be. The people he’s personally helped in St. Clair County, you just can’t count them because there are so many. He truly appreciates the people. I’ve been kidding him about retiring for some time now. I’ve always said that countywide, he eats Republicans for lunch in elections in a Republican county.”

Fellow judge, Charles Robinson said that he is happy that Wyatt can begin his retirement.

“I was just telling him just the other day how envious I was of him that he was able to retire and spend some time with his wife. I’m disappointed that he is retiring because he’s made just an outstanding probate judge. He’s been around here since 1965. I was familiar with the probate judges before then as a young man growing up here in this county. I think that he’s as good as any that I’ve ever witnessed.”

Robinson, the former St. Clair Democratic Party chairman, spoke about Wyatt’s political leanings.

“I know that he stuck by his beliefs and stayed as a Democrat and I admired him for that. But he never let politics interfere with his job,” Judge Robinson said. “I don’t care if t was a Republican, Democrat, black, white, or which way you look at someone; he was always fair to the people that he served and he’s done an outstanding job.”

Robinson continued, “This county’s not going to be the same without Judge Wyatt. Like someone said the other day, there’s been a Wyatt judge at some point now for two generations in St. Clair County. He projects such a good image of this county. I’m sure Governor Riley will appoint someone who will project a good image and do a good job as probate judge. I know his wife, Brenda, is going to enjoy him being at home more and they’ll enjoy traveling together and being together more.”

District Judge Phil Seay also shared his recollections of serving alongside Judge Wyatt.

“I’ve known Judge Wyatt for almost 20 years as both an attorney and a district judge,” Judge Seay said. “I’ve always found him to be conscious of the needs of the people and he’s run his office in that way. I consider him a friend and he will be missed and I wish them best.”