After 43 years of faithful service in the Walker County Courthouse, including filling the role of probate judge for nearly the last 20, Foye Johnson stepped down Friday, Jan. 14, passing the torch on to her daughter, Christy Ander-son.

Johnson served as a clerk in the Walker County court until 1991, when she was sworn in as probate judge to ful-fill the unexpired term of W. L. Abney. She has been re-elected into the same position ever since.

Johnson’s daughter, Anderson, was sworn in as her associate judge in July 2009. A festive retirement reception was held in the main courtroom in the Walker County Courthouse at noon Friday, Jan. 14, to celebrate Anderson being sworn in to her new position. Like her mother before her, she is now fulfilling her predecessor’s unexpired term, for which she will be running for re-election in November 2012.

Friends, family and well-wishers congratulated the mother-and-daughter pair on their retirement and new re-sponsibilities, respectively, and plenty of food and fun was had by all.

Walker County sheriff Steve Wilson was especially proud of Johnson and Anderson and the long tradition of faithfulness shown by Walker County judges.

“This is only the third probate judge we’ve had in about 55 years,” he said, referring to W. L. Abney’s legendary 40-plus years of service in that position. He hopes that Anderson will continue Abney and Johnson’s examples and continue to serve Walker County for many years to come.