Oral History Feature | Diane Deal & Karen Goodman

We sat down with Diane Deal, the Clerk of Superior Court for Watauga County and one of her assistant clerks, Karen Goodman, to learn about a side of the court system that doesn't get as much attention.

"DD – Juvenile court cases are some of the hardest cases that you will ever hear. I worked juvenile court years ago, I wanted to take them all home with me. And what Karen said is correct, you have to learn how to disassociate yourself a little bit from the situation otherwise when you go home at night you would never sleep, that’s the hard part of the job is not wanting to take them all home.
KM – I think growing a tough skin as well. I think you know what I’m trying to say?
DD – I do know what you are trying to say. A court reporter told me years ago, we were working in juvenile court and she said, “My hope is that at the end of my career is that I still have compassion, because I do not want to become hardened in order to survive my job.” And I have thought about her saying that to me many times throughout the years, you want to be compassionate, you do not want to end up with a hard heart because that’s the only way can survive is to harden your heart to all the emotions that you see and hear about every day. I think that is one of the hardest things.
I think I still have compassion after 37 years, I don’t think I’ve hardened my heart. But there are some situations where I have hardened my heart, it’s like, “Un-uh, no” it’s the frequent flyers. It’s like you’ve been here, you’ve done this way too many times, you don’t need to ask me for compassion, I have seen your face and seen your name too many times through the court system. Which is sad because they still deserve compassion too. We all make mistakes, we hope that we learn from our mistakes, and we hope that for these young people that come in and out of the court system.
And it’s not always young people, and that’s what’s sad, you see the next generation and the next generation and they’re all following down this path and it’s sad, because sometimes it is a generational thing, and I’ve been here long enough to see the generations.
KM – I’ve dealt with people or their kids when I started on January 5, 1998 until now. And that is what I think I am referring to with the tough skin, it’s not the juvenile cases, it’s just like how can they still be in trouble or now their kids are in trouble. I think back too to what (Diane) said, you are a product of your environment, but still I don’t think my heart is hardened but there are some people that I definitely have less patience with than others, which are frequent flyers that come into the office on a monthly basis."

Photo by Ashley Warren @naturalcraftphotography

Read their full interview at
blowingrockmuseum.org/see/wataugaworks