Valerie Farmer is a perpetual motion machine in human form. She has to be to keep up with family life and a job that requires erratic hours. Going nonstop is the way she likes to live.

"Usually, from the time I get up until the time I go to sleep, I’m going. I don’t sit very well," she said.

She is the marketing director at Regency Retirement Village in Morristown, a job she has held for the past five and a half years. It requires her to meet with people thinking about Regency as a place to live, and often they arrive with their families. Since many family members work, that can mean she has to stay late. During the day she spends a lot of time out in the community, spreading the word about what Regency offers.

"I do the tours that come into the building for people or their families considering Regency," she said. "I also go out a lot, to health fairs and expos and those different types of things. I also speak at civic and health groups. Anybody who deals with seniors, we market to. It’s a pretty busy job. I’m responsible for all advertising, newspaper, radio, TV, billboards. This is not a nine to five job. You have to be flexible."

She is a native of Morristown, and after high school attended Walters State Community College for two years before moving on to East Tennessee State University for a degree in management and marketing. She applied her trade at various businesses in Morristown before taking her present job at Regency.

It was her outgoing personality as much as her education and experience that landed her the position she now holds.

"Trudy Darnell (Regency Retirement Village director) hired me for my mouth," Valerie said. "I’m not shy and I love to talk. I like to meet people and learn their stories, what’s going on with them and their past. That’s why I’m here."

Her husband, Raymond, is the cross-country coach at Morristown-Hamblen High School West, and they have two children, Lindsay, 4, and Savannah, 2. Her family is the joy of her life, and she spends as much time as possible with them.

The Farmers attend Holt’s Baptist Church, the church she grew up in and where she sings in the choir.

It’s not always easy to balance work with family, and she depends on help to do it.

"It’s a challenge," she said. "I have a very supportive family, not only Raymond, but my parents, his parents and my sister, Drama. The hard part is fitting it all in one day."

While free time may be scarce, she considers her family time as the most productive use of it.

"I play with my children. That’s the most fun thing I do," she said. "I love to shop and I scrapbook. I love to read, too. But the children are the pride of my life and my joy."

She doesn’t consider herself a prideful person, or one who brags, but she does admit to one accomplishment she feels good about. It took about a year, but she recently completed losing 25 pounds she’d gained during two pregnancies.

"I’m pretty proud of that," she said.

She thinks her natural-born stubbornness plays a big part in allowing her to accomplish all she does.

While she enjoys all aspects of her job, the best part is getting to know the people who live at Regency Retirement Village.

"The people. Without a doubt, the people are the best part," she said. "I love the people. There’s no other place I could be that I’d have 160 grandmothers and grandfathers."

She can’t say what the future will bring, but she does know what she wants to do with it.

"I just see myself in a place, probably here at Regency, where I can help people," she said. "I think God put me on Earth for a purpose."