MOULTRIE, Ga. — Appointed interim clerk of court in March 2013, Lynn Purvis knew her passion for the office would have her running for the position in her own right in the special election.

Voters chose Purvis for the post that September, and she has served there ever since. She ran for re-election without opposition in 2016 and is running again this year.

She said her passion has not wavered.

“In fact, it has only increased with time,” she said. “This position allows me a platform to be a greater servant to Colquitt County.”

Slightly changing the famed Spider-Man quote, Purvis said “with greater power comes greater responsibility and opportunities to serve,” as the position is all about service to her.

But before her ascension to the clerk position, Purvis held a host of positions across Colquitt County, where she was born and raised.

Raised by Winfred and Faye Giddens, Purvis graduated from Moultrie High School in 1979 — the same year she married her husband, the Rev. Steve Purvis. 

She subsequently earned an accounting degree from Moultrie Tech and went on to work at The Moultrie Observer for 16 years.

The law firm Kirbo and McCalley offered her a job as a legal secretary where she was introduced to the legal world and the clerk’s office. In 1999, she was offered a job again, this time at the clerk’s office.

There she initially served Court Clerk Shirley Asbell and went on to serve Court Clerk Carolyn Marshall as chief deputy clerk in 2005. When Marshall retired in 2013, Purvis was appointed interim clerk.

During her time as court clerk, she’s taken on some hardships like her husband’s death in 2016. Most recently, she was hit by a car on Nov. 15, 2019.

“Recovery has been a hard road,” she said. “I have worked very hard to get to the point where I am today. The accident reminded me that God prepares us today because He is walking in our tomorrow.”

Purvis was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and was in and out of both the hospital and rehabilitation over the course of three to four months.

She said it made her realize how much she loved serving in the clerk’s office.

“I missed the ladies in the office, the attorneys/secretaries, the judges, the interaction with the citizens for jury duty — I missed it all,” Purvis said. “But I didn’t realize how much until I wasn’t able to return.”

So it’s no surprise when she returned to the office in February that it didn’t feel strange at all to get back to her job. She said it felt like home.

But even when she couldn’t be in the office physically, Purvis made sure to speak to her co-workers every day to make sure work was taken care of. The office didn’t miss a beat.

This leads to her focus if reelected. The clerk’s office is moving into a paperless world and is already working to lessen the learning curve for citizens, she said.

“I look forward to leading the way as the Clerk’s Office heads in a new direction with records, deeds and plots,” Purvis said. “We will continue to learn and grow in this area.”

And in doing so, she’ll continue the relationships she has with 158 other clerks across the state, the Clerk’s Authority of Georgia, Georgia Superior Court’s Council and the Georgia Superior Court Clerk’s Authority.

As Purvis isn’t 100 percent healthwise yet, she notes she’ll be entering a “new normal,” a different normal than what she knew before Nov. 15.

She said she will be forever grateful to the attorneys, legal secretaries, judges, other county employees and citizens of the county who shared their love, support and prayers during her recovery.

“I know God is not finished with me yet,” Purvis said. “He didn’t bring me this far to leave me here.”