May 2006

Who Works for You — WSBA Employee Profile

Shirley Naccarato: Ten Thousand Chocolate Days

by Alfredo Tryferis

On February 28, Shirley Naccarato retired from the WSBA after 30 years of service. Although "budget and financial analyst" was her official title, she was known around the office as the Rock of Gibraltar, having weathered 30 WSBA presidents, four executive directors, and three different WSBA offices, all while exhibiting a charm and aplomb that was both comforting and inspiring.

Shirley's three decades at the WSBA gave her a long memory, and her seemingly limitless font of institutional knowledge was legendary. "Shirley was a huge source of information about Bar policies and history," says Trina Doty, an audit manager with the WSBA. "I received a call from someone who asked me if I knew the name of an auditor who'd worked here more than 10 years ago. Shirley knew the auditor's name right down to the correct spelling. She is truly a tough act to follow."

And it wasn't just her knowledge and good cheer that she doled out freely: there was always a tray of homemade cookies and treats outside her office door. "She's famous for her love of everything chocolate," says Toni Wilde, a WSBA accounts payable bookkeeper. "I'll miss her customary e-mail closing telling me to 'have a chocolate day.'"

Born and raised in Longview, Shirley moved to Seattle in 1974 after attending Lower Columbia Community College and went to work for the WSBA two years later. She started as a typist in the Legal Department (now the Office of Disciplinary Counsel), but after six months discovered that typing was "not my forte." When the bookkeeper left to go to law school, Shirley jumped at the opportunity and, after taking some bookkeeping and accounting courses at North Seattle Community College, was soon promoted.

With only 20 employees back then (there are about 130 now), Shirley not only worked in the Accounting Department, she was the Accounting Department. "The auditors had a field day," she says. "Because I counted the money coming in, I deposited the money, I reconciled the bank statements, I did the financials, I wrote the checks. But we didn't have any choice!"

When you talk to Shirley about her first years at the Bar, the word "manual" comes up often. "There were no computers when I first started; it was all done by hand. I did manual checkbooks, posted manually, did manual financial reports, reconciled the bank statements manually. The books weren't computerized until the mid-'80s. Before that we had typewriters with carbon paper — kind of scary!" she says laughing.

Shirley and Rick, her husband of 14 years, sold their home in Seattle and will be moving to Boise, Idaho, in July, where they plan to build their dream house. "It hasn't really sunk in yet," she says about leaving the WSBA after 30 years. "It's like I'm going on a long vacation."

A well-deserved vacation, and with her will go a big piece of the Bar Association, and our hearts. May she have many chocolate days. 

Alfredo Tryferis is a communications specialist in the WSBA Member and Community Relations Department.