Auditor Cleyta Andrews, a certified public accountant (CPA) with Johnson, Hickey & Murchison (JHM), has retired after 30 years of serving many of the Chattanooga area’s leading nonprofits, municipalities and small businesses, including Catoosa County government.

Her last day with the firm was May 31.

From the beginning of her career, Andrews has focused on corporate and individual accounting, auditing and tax services and is a licensed CPA in Tennessee and Georgia. Andrews said she is ready for some serious travel and grandchildren time, but she hopes to stay connected to her clients.

“I am going to miss my clients on a day-to-day basis,” she said. “I am a part of my clients, and they feel like I care. My clients e-mail me at home as well as the office. They call me in the evening and on weekends. They just call when they need me. In fact, most of them know that if they need me in the future, for advice or just to talk, I am only a phone call away.”

Co-workers said she was an inspiration to many and will be missed.

“Cleyta is so well loved and has numerous long-standing business relationships,” JHM partner Dean Krech said. “She prides herself on that. Her personal connection to clients has served as a role model to me. She is also a great advisor to people in our firm in various divisions and in various capacities. She has such a tremendous background.”

Andrews, a Cleveland, Tann., resident, said she will not only miss being involved in business plans and business responsibilities with clients, but also will miss the relationships with co-workers.

“They’re really more friends than co-workers,” Andrews said.

Among them are Jeff Durham, the firm’s managing partner, and administrator Sharon Karwisch, both of whom were at the firm when Andrews began in 1982.

Andrews did not start her college career at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville until age 30. She received her bachelor’s degree in accounting and joined JHM, where she eventually achieved partnership status. As a mother of three daughters, she said her youngest child was five-years-old when she started working, and at retirement, her youngest grandchild is seven.

Originally from Asheville, N.C., Andrews and her husband of 47 years, Warren, have five grandchildren.

“We want to continue to be active in our church (First Baptist Church of Cleveland) and volunteer with a few nonprofits that are close to our hearts. To celebrate our retirement, we are planning a trip to Yosemite National Park in California,” she said.

Since its founding in 1977, JHM Certified Public Accountants has grown to specialize in accounting, auditing and tax services to nonprofit organizations and serves a diverse range of business clients throughout the southeast Tennessee/north Georgia region.