The white board hanging on the wall just behind her desk is there less for aesthetic beauty as much as for more practical reasons.

Keeping tabs on large sums of money spread over various accounts as the Financial Technician for Food Service Branch Quantico means that April Canty will use every tool at her disposal to make sure the numbers are right and that the Marines she serves are always properly taken care of. It hasn’t always been easy, but Canty, the lone civilian employee among the department’s 17 staff members, has managed to do just that.

But overseeing the funds necessary to run the five mess halls and different accounts aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico is challenging work.

“That helps keep me on track,” she said, pointing to the white board and its ever-changing numbers. “I look at that and pull out my reports as often as I can to make sure everything is always right.”

Canty, a former flight attendant now married to a Marine gunnery sergeant, has been with the department since July 2009. Her primary mission is to provide necessary oversight by tracking the four primary accounts with which the department is charged, including the ones responsible for the various Marine dining accounts, and making sure the funds generated from each account go exactly where they are supposed to.

Capt. John W. Glinsky, Base Food Service Officer, G4, Marine Corps Base Quantico, said he felt lucky to have Canty aboard his team.

“Essentially, she’s the bookkeeper,” Glinsky said. “She keeps us straight.”

Canty would be the first to tell you, however, that the job has its challenges, not the least of which are the unexpected situations that inevitably arise and demand tough decisions on her part that often result with her saying no.

But she credits her Marine colleagues for making it all work.

“I think we all work well together,” she said. “I think, at the end of the day, we’re here to support the Marines. That’s the most important thing.”

— Writer: jhollis@quanticosentryonline.com