CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Action 9 consumer segment has been a huge part of Channel 9 for decades and through it all there's been just one producer: Mary White, who retired Friday after nearly 40 years at Channel 9.
For 38 years, White has answered phone calls, letters and emails -- tens of thousands of them from viewers needing help with consumer issues.
She's done whatever it took to get to the bottom of things.
"The paycheck was important but it was more rewarding to hear someone say, 'Thank you for helping me,'" White said.
White has been the constant in Action 9 and as the on-air reporters for the segment have changed from Cullen Ferguson in the 1970s and 1980s to Don Griffin and now Jason Stoogenke.
"Think of a health care setting, an emergency room -- she is the triage nurse," Stoogenke said. "She's the person that when someone's panicking, they talk to first, usually."
"She has a spirituality about her that I think everybody that knows her sees," Ferguson said. "She just wasn't a coworker of mine; she was part of my family."
Griffin spent more than 30 years working side by side with White.
He said she's relentless when it comes to fighting for viewers.
"You should hear her on the phone. Sometimes she's going at it saying, 'Why didn't you take care of this?'" he said.
Griffin said White was always taken care of everyone else.
"It's time for Mary to stop living at work and start working at living," Griffin said.
Now, White is retiring after a remarkable career and co-workers will miss her warmth and wisdom.
"You have to think all the people inside the building, inside Channel 9 she's helped," Stoogenke said. "She's been there as a friend, mother, sister, an aunt, producer, whatever the role was."
White will leave a lasting impression not only with her Channel 9 family, but with the many viewers she has helped over the years.
"No, it never seemed like a job to me," White said. "It just seemed like I was born to do this. I was born to do this."
She pointed out that Action 9 is in good hands and will continue for many years to come but now, White will be watching from her living room -- not the newsroom.
Read more top trending stories on wsoctv.com: