Remembering County Clerk Shirley Parraguirre

By Jon Ralston (contact)

Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Shirley Paraguirre

It isn’t an adjective applied to many elected officials on their passing, but it was on the lips of many when news percolated Monday that County Clerk Shirley Parraguirre had passed away: nice. Parraguirre was, as one longtime pol put it, “one of the nicest people I have ever met.” Indeed she was. “Shirley was a professional who took her responsibilities seriously,” Commission Chairman Rory Reid said. “She was a great clerk and an even better person and always had a smile on her face.” Parraguirre won’t be missed so much because of the way she did her job, even though she did it well. But as she sat on the commission dais for more than a decade, she always had that smile Reid invoked. Nice. I’ll miss that.