BAY MINETTE, Alabama — Today’s tough economy has north Baldwin County residents who never thought they’d need the aid of social services walking into the door of the Family Service Center in Bay Minette. And it takes a special person to help them through that time of need.

Long before unemployment and prices spiked, Bay Minette native Becky Harville has been such a person. Serving as an intake coordinator and case guide for more than a decade, she’s the first person a client sees when they arrive at the FSC.

“I see what they need,” Harville said during a recent interview at her office.

That need could include assistance to pay utility bills or purchase fundamental household items or helping them get involved in parenting, budgeting or GED classes, lined up for individual therapy or tutoring program or access to a computer. To ensure those needs are being met, a good portion of Harville’s day is spent outside the office walls.

“I go out to the clients’ homes, to see if they need anything,” she said, explaining that a visit with a single client can last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. “We usually try to stay with them and chat.”

Because of the number of clients Harville serves, she alternates those visits.

“Right now I have 25 (clients),” she said.

Making those visits is something Harville enjoys.

“I love the children and the elderly,” she said, explaining that the ages of FSC clients covers both age ranges and in between.

But one of Harville’s favorite memories isn’t about a home visit. Instead, it’s recently helping a woman in her 40s earn a GED.

“She has signed up for college courses and has put her resume online,” Harville said. “It was so amazing, so exciting.”

FSC Executive Director Buffy Marsten isn’t surprised by Harville’s enthusiasm.

“She has been a very dependable and reliable employee, going beyond the call of duty,” Marsten said.

One reason Harville takes such satisfaction in her work is that she knows firsthand what some of her clients have been through. She explained that she and her husband of 37 years, Lloyd Harville, encountered difficulty almost 20 years ago.

“We left Bay Minette in 1987,” she said, explaining that the couple and their three children moved to Florida.

While there, Harville worked in childcare and her husband made a living in the construction business.

“But in ’93, he got hurt on the job,” she recalled.

That injury resulted in several back operations for her husband.

“With everything on top of that, I was the only one working,” Harville said. “When you have to drop down to living on Workman’s Compensation, it puts you in a bad place.”

But by receiving the same assistance she now helps provide to others, Harville and her family made it to the other side of that tough time. In fact, her husband has no permanent damage from that long-ago back injury.

“He is not in a wheelchair,” Harville said.

In addition to passing on the compassion she received to others, Harville and her husband dote on their seven grandchildren.

“The grandchildren are the love of our lives,” she said.

Plus, the couple has a zest for life.

“We love camping,” Harville said. “And up until my husband came down with cancer, we rode our motorcycles on the weekends.”

When that battle took place a few years ago, the couple sold their motorcyles. However, it didn’t keep them off the road. Instead, Harville and her husband have been traveling by car with the Southern Cruisers motorcycle group since he was deemed cancer-free three years ago.

But Harville doesn’t spend all of her free time on the road. She and her husband are just as comfortable on the water.

“We’ve had all kinds of boats,” she said. “We have a bass boat now so we can pull the grandkids on the tube.”

Harville has a domestic side, too. That comes in the form of cooking, which she shares with both her family and co-workers.

“I even cook for the quarterly board meetings,” she said, adding that Marsten usually requests pineapple upside down cake.

“I always kid with her and tell her she needs to open a catering business,” Marsten said with a smile.

Harville takes such ribbing in stride because she and Marsten have a strong bond with each other and her two additional co-workers.

“We all just get along so well together,” she said. “We all love one another. We’ve been there in the good times and bad for one another.”