Gainesville — Cooke County’s exiting treasurer discussed her tenure on Friday and the faith she has in her replacement’s success.

The retirement of Judy Hunter was recognized during the most recent county commissioners’ meeting of Aug. 27, with officials signing a proclamation in tribute to nearly three decades of the treasurer’s service.

“I feel very blessed to have had the 25 years to be here and all the county employees and officials who have been so close and have been friends,” she said Friday, following a reception in her office. “It’s been good.”

Hunter’s consistent role has been as the chief custodian of county funds, handling monies from all outside sources and storing and disbursing them in accordance with the direction of other officials such as commissioners. The job contrasts the role of the county auditor, who holds account of where the spent money has gone.

Following a special meeting today at Cooke County Courthouse, Patty Brennan is expected to be sworn into office in place of Hunter, who is leaving the treasurer’s seat due to health issues. As per hiring procedure, Brennan’s new title is tentative until officially approved by commissioners during the court.

But the longtime official, 57, explained Friday that she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the mid-1990s, and currently uses a power wheelchair.

Her retirement and replacement have been long in progress.

“It’s just gotten progressively worse, here lately,” Hunter said.

This medical case was the subject of a Register feature in 2009, which outlined Hunter’s diagnosis and treatments. in 1993, it said, she was successfully treated for breast cancer — but this care included a brain scan that uncovered lesions on its surface. The lesions were later diagnosed as symptomatic of MS, a disease that erodes nerves in the central nervous system and can progressively reduce body function.

Hunter’s medical status remained in flux for the next few years, as doctors explained that only an actual MS attack would prompt a clear diagnosis of the disease.

This didn’t happen until April 1997, when she sustained injuries in a car accident that prompted an episode and a loss of walking ability.

Her ability to walk slowly returned, but was followed by another attack in 2000, with more debilitation. This led to further intensive treatments, including steroid injections, knee replacement surgery and finally, in late 2009, a round of stem cell therapy in Costa Rica.

“I have the best support in the whole world,” Hunter said shortly before therapy began. “My husband and family and all my friends are just like a blessing. You don’t know how good you have it until something like this brings you together.”

During this interval, Hunter also credited Brennan, who was working for her. And if hired today as treasurer, Brennan will soon pursue additional schooling through the County Treasurers Association and certified investment officer courses in Austin and College Station.

She admitted Friday that she hopes to continue the integrity Hunter upheld for many years and meet long-established standards of service.

“She knows all the answers and is really experienced and she knew everything,” Brennan said Friday. “I just hope to be able to live up to her past.”

Hunter, however, said Brennan is the ideal candidate, having already worked in the office for several years and been been familiarized with its rigors.

“She’s been like my right arm and my left arm and right leg and left leg,” she said about Brennan. “She’s just one of those people who helps everybody. And she knows the job and she’s been doing it, so she really is that person who is set for the transition. She has dedicated her whole being to this office. And you don’t find many people these days that supportive.”

Hunter said her retirement is set to include the hobby of scrapbooking, plus whatever volunteer work she can do.

And she admitted that though her time serving Cooke County created a lot of great memories, she didn’t have a single one to pinpoint offhand.

But the convenience of Brennan and her probable future use in the role of treasurer, she said, has come “out of the blue” in a good way.

“With those kind of things, God puts them into place and takes care of us,” Hunter said Friday. “And this is the same way. It’s really time for me to retire.”