She is celebrating the holiday. Nanette Holman will not go trick-or-treating. She will go to work. Her last day of work is Halloween – Thursday, Oct. 31. Nanette reached retirement after 31 years at Maple Valley Post Office. She began her lifetime career there at age 35, the same year that the post office had moved from its Dorre Don location to “the beautiful newly-constructed building” on SE Wax Road in which she still works.
Nanette is retiring from position T7, a term that describes levels of responsibility. Her levels included duties of front window clerk, assigning jobs to others, instructor, trainer, and over seeing on-the-job workers. She has also been “on loan” to Issaquah and Enumclaw post offices when they needed assistance. Most of the general public, however, would recognize her as the Maple Valley clerk in the blue post office uniform with a name tag.
Speaking of uniforms, how will Nanette dress for work on Halloween 2019? Will her day of retirement on October 31st find her in an aging costume? Post office employees aren’t allowed to wear clothing other than their uniform, but Nanette has (in Halloween’s passed) “done wild things” with her hair and make-up. Pulling at her blue uniform with its Nanette name tag, she makes it clear, “It will be my last day to wear this costume.” She’s guessing her upcoming office party, with the public coming and going, includes traditional folderol – a banner, balloons, punch; everything that assures her co-workers that this Halloween will be a “fun day” for her retirement.
Nanette says retirement will not mean just rest and relaxation for her. Although she is “not quite sure” about the future, she aims to keep busy and is planning to swim regularly for good health. Her co-worker, Beverly on Route 8, was hired in 1989 and will also be retiring soon. The post office has 17 carriers, one for each Maple Valley route, along with six or seven substitutes. It has five clerks, but needs to occasionally “borrow” some from Black Diamond.
As a recently single mother back then, her three little boys are what kept Nanette in postal service for the next 31 years. “It was a very good job,” she says. “It was reliable, with no lay-offs and good benefits. I loved clerking at the window – getting to know everyone.” Her very first job at age 16 had been with FW Woolworth, a drugstore in the California Bay area. That was followed by semesters at college and eventually a move to the Benson road in Renton, then Lake Sawyer, and finally two different homes in Black Diamond. In addition to her three sons, Nanette has three granddaughters and a grandson “on the way.” Readers should take a guess at how she keeps in touch with the little ones. No, not phone calls. Yup, the U.S. Postal Service. Nanette writes notes on decorative note cards with matching envelopes and uses U.S. Postal Service for delivery.
Asked what she likes or dislikes about her work, Nanette takes no pause before sharing, “Behind the scenes. It’s not just ‘walk in, do your job, walk out’. It is hard work. I will not miss the hard work. I will miss the people with whom I work. I will miss our customers and watching others’ kids grow up – like the young man who said, ‘I know you, you’re the post office lady’.”
‘Click and ship’ is the most significant change in postal work over her 31 years. A tour through the office warehouse portion of Maple Valley Post Office gives apt example of her description of “hard work” and “significant change” over the years. Behind the tidy and orderly front office, the back rooms are overloaded with postal chaos – boxes and crates of packages and more boxes of packages piled wall to wall with barely room to walk. All the packages must be delivered on that day. “Many people are selling products from their home businesses,” she said. “A mail carrier may arrive to find 50 to 100 packages with bar codes that need to be scanned individually. In addition to normal route duties, the carrier spends time scanning, carrying 100 packages to the delivery truck, completing the route, unloading the 100 packages into cargo boxes at the post office, and sorting the regular mail. Packages are the change; it’s not the old days of mostly letters.”
So Nanette’s last day in October will be different from the old days of retirement. The public is welcome to drop in and say good-bye. It is Halloween, a fun day – for Nanette Holman as well as children.
