To hear Melinda Anderson tell the story, she and Magistrate Court grew up together.

She was on the first staff when it was created across the state 40 years ago. She’s been the chief magistrate for the county for the last 35 years.

Now, she says, it’s time to turn the office over to someone else.

Anderson has retired from the position she has held since 1988 and Paula Hendrix has been sworn in as her replacement.

“It’s really hard for me to leave this,” Anderson declared. “But I wouldn’t leave this unless I had someone with the caliber of person, the kindness, the mentality, the intelligence that I would feel comfortable and want to be here.” Hendrix has been with the Magistrate Court for two years, after spending two years with the Probate Court. She served as a staff attorney for the Atlantic Judicial Circuit superior court judges for 15 years.

She’s aware it’s a big robe to fill and big gavel to wield being left to her.

“She’s smart, she’s nice, she’s kind and she’s doing a great job,” Anderson said of her successor. “I think she’ll do a wonderful job.”

Anderson was a justice of the peace when the state put the justices of the peace and small claims courts together under one judge. And it’s a wide range of cases and functions that come before the court.

“We are the emergency room of the judicial system,” Anderson said.

The Magistrate Court hears such things as dispossessories, issues search and arrest warrants, handles violations of county ordinances, garnishments, foreclosures of personal property and it is also home to small claims court, for those matters under $15,000.

Even with all her years in the court system, Hendrix acknowledged she didn’t realize what Magistrate Court handled until she started in it.

“Unless you’re in it, you don’t realize it and how it touches so many citizens. It can touch every citizen at some point,” she said. “Melinda has taught how important it is and we are an important court.”

The stories the court hears from the parties in front of it can lead credence to Anderson’s statement that Magistrate Court “is like if Judge Judy and Jerry Springer had a baby,” Hendrix said.

“You have to communicate and figure what is going on from what has brought these litigants to our court,” she added.

People who bring their matters to Magistrate Court almost always do it on their own, meaning there are no lawyers involved.

“It is one of the most accessible courts to litigants,” Hendrix said. “We have direct access to the parties. We’re right in the mix.”

“We are charged to do substantial justice,” Anderson said. “They don’t know where to go. They can’t afford to hire an attorney.”

Anderson said she has leaned on the lessons of her father and mother on how to treat people, especially when they came before her in court.

“I care about people,” she said. “My mother and father were the salt of the earth. That’s the way I was brought up — you do the things that are right, you do the things that are fair.”

Reactions to a judge’s rulings ran the gamut, too, Anderson pointed out.

“Fifty percent are going to leave mad,” she said, “and 50% of the other 50% are going to leave mad because they didn’t get what they thought they were going to get. It is not a popularity contest.

“I have had defendants stop and thank me and say, Judge, I just wanted someone to listen to me.”

Hendrix has been witness to just such occasions, too.

“Judge Anderson is so savvy,” Hendrix said. “She can rule against someone and they will almost thank her on the way out. It is an amazing skill to have. Each of the parties feels they are getting a fair shot with her. That is an amazing trait.”

It’s another facet of the job that Hendrix has learned from Anderson in two years.

“It’s part who you are, the kind of person you are and how you want to serve the county and the citizens,” Hendrix said. “That’s the most important thing I’ve learned, to look beyond the papers and look at the person and the entire circumstance.”

As Anderson pointed out, nobody in their courtroom is ever happy and “I’ve been known to give two or three pep talks,” she said.

When Anderson took over as magistrate, the office was in the historic courthouse. There was a manual typewriter and a 10-key adding machine. There were 233 civil filings in Magistrate Court in her predecessor’s last year.

She had 1,000 in her first. And just this year alone, there have been 831 dispossessories filed as of the end of July.

“We grew up together, me and Magistrate Court,” Anderson said. “It would be hard for me to retire and not know who was going to be here. You have to be more than just smart.”

Anderson also has passed on to her staff that even if they don’t know the answer, find someone who does know it and to treat everyone who comes in with courtesy and respect.

“Everybody works well together and that makes it so much easier,” she said. “I have never dreaded coming to work because of an office situation. We all help each other and we have a good sense of humor. We’re always there for each other. Part of that rolls over into how you treat people.”

Michael McGirt was promoted to take Hendrix’s spot and both Anderson and Hendrix praised him.

“He treats everyone with respect,” Anderson said. “Michael is so even-tempered and compassionate. He has a calming presence.”

Hendrix will keep the door open for Anderson, in case she wants to come back as a senior judge. It’ll be a six-month wait, though, if that happens.

Anderson is leaving office to care for her three teenage granddaughters, who have been in her care since they were 1, 2, and 3 years old.

In the meantime, it may take a while for Anderson to clean out an office after 35 years.

“It’s been an honor and a privilege,” she said. “I may have to pay a month’s rent on my office because I may not be able to get it all out of there.”