Clester Burdell, Cle to most of those who know her, has a sign in her office simply asking those who see it to believe and telling them that with God all things are possible. On her desk, two angels watch over her work. Silent symbols, but powerful ones when given the context of Cle’s life.She was raised in a poor Anniston family, wanting for little only because she didn’t know what she didn’t have. Her parents gave her an education more in a sense of how to live, teaching her to be a hard worker, than in the scholarly meaning of the word.
That scholarly education she has worked for on her own, through courses the depot sent her to and the degree she is pursuing at Jacksonville State University.
“I am continuing my education at JSU,” said Cle. “I am most proud of it because I teach my son not to be a quitter and it’s important to me to be an example him, even though for me it’s a little bit later in life.”
Cle began work at the Anniston Army Depot in 1982, working third shift as a data transfer person. Six months later she was moved to personnel, where she worked on and off for about 10 years before changing over to the public affairs office.
At the time she was one of three people in the office. Stan Williamson was editor of Tracks, the depot’s newspaper, and Joan Gustafson was the public affairs officer.
In the 15 years since she began working in public affairs, Cle has done a little bit of everything, learning new skills as she went. An assistant editor was needed for Tracks, so Cle learned to write news stories and edit those submitted by others. Help was needed with the depot’s Morning Show, a weekly internal newscast co-sponsored by the safety office, so she got on-the-job-training in television production.
“One day Joan called me into the office and said, ‘Cle, you’re going to start doing the Morning Show.’ I thought, ‘No, I’m not, I can’t do this,’” said Cle as she detailed how she started off in a little studio where the set consisted of a card table and two chairs doing the announcements. She’s still nervous being on live TV, but she has learned to appreciate that portion of her job. “Moving forward 10 years, you go back and look at that first piece. There have been drastic changes, but thank God we did make it.”
And as the time passed, Cle developed a true love for her work. She loves meeting new people and interviewing them for stories in Tracks, she loves planning the Morning Show and she loves sharing information about the Anniston Army Depot with the surrounding communities.
“This is one job I do not regret and I don’t feel bad in the morning. It is a pleasure to get up and come to work,” said Cle. “I thank God for providing a means for me to take care of my family, but by the same token it is something I enjoy.”
When Gustafson retired in August, Cle applied for and was placed in her position. Being the PAO brings with it a new set of challenges and additional learning, but not only does she feel up to the task, she is looking forward to molding the future of the depot’s public affairs office.
“I see a lot of changes coming forth in public affairs, in this field. We’ve got to make ourselves more marketable. We’ve got to tell our story and the only way to do that is to leave the confines of the office and go out there,” she said, telling how she would love one day to be able to share the depot’s stories with not just the local media, but the national news outlets as well.
Cle isn’t the type of person who gives only a piece of herself to anything. Just as she brings her faith and love of people and learning to work, those same qualities travel with her through the rest of her life. She and her husband Tony and son Christopher attend Friendship Baptist Church where her favorite activity is helping with the kitchen committee – as much for the knowledge she gleans from the older women as the friendships she has formed over the years.
The kitchen is her favorite place at home as well. There she loves to tinker with recipes, finding new ways to prepare them to make something her family will enjoy that is good for them as well.
Taking old standards and making them new and fresh is very much a part of her life from her cooking to the way she now uses technology to get information out at the depot.
“We’ve got the capability to where we can connect to all the outlets out there within the confines of the installation. I think that’s pretty cool,” said Cle.
Tracks now has not only its paper version, which is distributed every other week, but an online version as well available to workers through the depot’s intranet. Conferences and training can now be held virtually, saving time and money, and the office is constantly making changes to incorporate new ways of using evolving technologies.
But one thing will never change – the mission of the office.
“I think it’s so important that the public know what we do here touches the lives of so many and whereas most people can relate if they have a family member that is in the military, we never know whose hands the equipment is going into, but we know it’s got to be done right. Our employees are very dedicated, very committed to making certain the vehicles, the weapons that they repair are in excellent condition, like new condition, when they leave here,” said Cle.
