Shortly after she moved back to Wyoming, Patra Lindenthal’s children told her to go get a job, and her sister suggested the Park County Courthouse might be a good place to work. Lindenthal decided to go ahead and apply and it wasn’t long before her resume caught the eye of the newly appointed clerk of district court, Joyce Boyer. A day after speaking with Boyer, Lindenthal was on the job as a child support clerk.

“It all fell together,” Lindenthal said. “I think it was meant to fall together.”

It’s been more than 30 years since Lindenthal was hired and only now is she leaving the office. 

Since her first day on July 22, 1992, more than 12,625 civil cases, 2,675 criminal cases, 4,500 probate cases and other legal matters have been filed with the office. There have also been plenty of trials, appeals, juvenile matters and passport applications.

“It’s been busy,” said Lindenthal, who voters picked to succeed the retiring Boyer in 2014. “But it’s been good.”

The work on child support issues was particularly meaningful for Lindenthal, as her biological father never provided financial support while her mother worked three jobs.

“It was kind of a labor of love,” Lindenthal said. “I just felt like, these moms need help. They need to get their support as quickly as they can, and I wanted to be at least a part of that.

“I just processed it as best and quickest as I could.”

Efficiently processing documents is a primary duty of the clerk’s office, which is charged with keeping a record of all the proceedings in Park County’s District Court — from murder trials to divorces to disputes over wills.

The office has grown increasingly electronic over the years, though Lindenthal is skeptical that the court will ever be able to be completely paperless.

“What if this goes down?” she said, gesturing to her computer and the state’s electronic court records system.

“We have continued to maintain the paper index and I think we always will,” she said.

The office grew from a staff of four to five during Lindenthal’s tenure and there have been many attorneys who’ve come and gone over the decades.

“It’s changed some,” she said, “but not a whole lot.”

Elections records show it’s been the most stable office in Park County government; Lindenthal was only the sixth clerk of district court since the county’s creation in 1911. She chose not to run for a third term. Lindenthal’s first deputy, Deb Carroll, will become the county’s seventh clerk next month, after winning a contested Republican primary in August and going unopposed in November’s general election. 

“I think she’s well prepared for it,” Lindenthal said of Carroll, predicting a “seamless transition.”

As for Lindenthal, she’s transitioning to retirement, with plans to work on a honey-do list and take some more trips around Wyoming and Montana with her family.

“It’ll be good,” she said.