Nobody can fault G.R. Kindley for retiring from public life. Very few people can match his more than 40 years of service to the people of Rockingham, Richmond County and the State of North Carolina.

As the N.C. Department of Transportation has been rocked with controversy, Kindley has been an example of what a public servant ought to be.

Rockingham Mayor Gene McLaurin might have said it best on Friday.

“He’s one of those people who really takes public service seriously and believes it’s about serving the public and that’s the reason he’s been on the DOT board for so long,” McLaurin said.

“That’s a great description,” said Jerry Higgins, a public affairs officer who deals with members of the 16-member board.

Kindley’s 16 years and four months on the DOT board may not be a record, but it’s got to be close. The DOT couldn’t confirm it was an all-time record on Friday, but among the current members, Kindley is tied with chairman Doug Galyon in terms of tenure. Both were named to the board at the same time. Galyon has also said he’s ready to step down when Gov. Bev Perdue finds a replacement.

Kindley was first appointed to the board in 1993 by Gov. James B. Hunt and has been re-appointed ever since by succeeding governors. In 1997, he was named vice chairman.

“It has been a good ride, but it is time to get off the bus,” Kindley said Friday. “I have no other reason for leaving other than wanting to have more personal time to do things I want to do.”

On July 28, he will turn 77.

“I’m older now and just felt like it was the right thing for me to do,” Kindley said, “and to spend more time in Rockingham.”

Kindley told Gov. Bev Perdue he wanted to retire in January, and he said she asked him to hold on until she could find a replacement. This week the governor replaced six DOT board members, but didn’t name a replacement for Kindley.

Now she will also now have to fill Kindley’s seat from Division 8 which includes the counties of Richmond, Scotland, Hoke, Randolph, Chatham, Lee, Moore and Montgomery.

His public service may have ended with his DOT board position, but it didn’t start there. He was a member of Rockingham City Council for 10 years and later mayor of the city for 20 years.

In dedicating the U.S. 74 Bypass in 2000, Gov. Hunt honored Kindley by saying he embodied the motto of the state seal, “To be rather than to seem.” He said Kindley was “one of the great human beings that God created” and praised him for his “integrity, knowledge and zeal.”

Among Perdue’s budget troubles, she’ll find an equally hard task in finding somebody as qualified and honest as G.R. Kindley.