The role was one of many services Flutey has performed in the Whanganui and South Taranaki communities for 48 years.
She has been the secretary of the Waitotara School Committee, Waitotara Centennial Committee, Waitotara Hall Committee, Waitotara Library Committee, Nukumaru Domain Board and various other local committees in the Patea, Waverley and Maxwell areas of South Taranaki.
Born in Maxwell as Patricia Anne Derbyshire in 1935, Flutey has always been known as "Anne".
"It was nothing to do with me.
"My parents named me Patricia but always called me Anne.
"I named my daughter Patricia and call her 'Trisha'."
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Growing up on a dairy farm instilled a love for rural life in Flutey that has never left her even though she lives as a "townie" these days.
After attending Maxwell School and Wanganui Technical College (now City College), 15-year-old Anne went to work at Burnett and Palmer Solicitors in Ridgway St.
Five years later, she married Tom Flutey, a young farm worker from Otaki who was working in Marton.
"We built a house in Ward Ave and tried to be townies, but we hated it and we moved to Ngutuwera, out behind Waitotara."
The Fluteys had three children – George, Ian and Trisha.
Tom worked for a grain and potato grower, a business the couple eventually bought. They also bought the Waitotara mail run.
In 1968, Anne was given a three-month trial at Coleman and Co solicitors in Waverley.
"When I eventually resigned, 30 years later, I said I had decided not to accept the position since my trial period had expired."
While working for the law firm, Flutey decided to train as a legal executive and undertook five years of correspondence study to qualify.
"Coleman and Co merged with Treadwell, Gordon and Co in 1988, and I would work two days a week in Waverley and two in Whanganui.
"Tom became ill that year, and we still had the mail and the harvesting business to run. My sister-in-law helped out with the mail run.
"When Tom passed away in 1989, it was hard to keep everything going. Trisha did the mail run for a while too."
Becoming a widow at just 54 was a hard adjustment for Flutey and she endured another devastating blow in 2004 when floodwaters engulfed her home and forced a move to Whanganui.
Despite her sense of loss, she did not rest on her laurels and took up an offer to work as a legal executive with the Wanganui District Council where she stayed for 13 years.
Even after her second retirement, she has not stopped.
She is a registered Justice of the Peace and received her medal for 30 years of service in 2019.
Flutey is also a past member of the Patea-Waitotara District Council (the first woman elected), Patea County Council, Patea Community Board and South Taranaki District Council.
Since 2014, she has authored seven books on local identities. Her most recent work is a biography of Whanganui helicopter pilot Ian Wakeling.
Flutey is also a member of the Board of Managers of St Pauls-St Marks Presbyterian Church, past secretary of Whanganui Floral Art, and a member of V3A History Group and the New Zealand Founders Society.
Her three children still live nearby and she also sees a lot of her five grandchildren.
She is still a regular volunteer at Whanganui Citizens Advice Bureau where she's been helping out for many years and said she still enjoys it because every day is different.
