Wendy, the chief postal clerk in our town, retired this morning. Maria and I picked up some strawberry donuts from the Miller Farm, brought them to her, and we said goodbye.

Wendy loves strawberry donuts above all food.

I’ve always thought of her as the heart of our community; she knows everyone and is unfailingly courteous and helpful.

Wendy worked in the post office for a long time, she didn’t say why she is retiring now, but I felt the post office is not a fun or rewarding place to work.

She’s already found a new part-time job delivering meals to the house-bound elderly. I’m sure they will love her as much as we all did. She’ll start in a few weeks.

Community is important to people; we fight to keep ours together here, sometimes in the face of overwhelming odds. Wendy was the face of the community here.

She paid attention to people and cared about people. She made going to the post office fun.

Whether they knew it or not (probably not), Wendy was a wonderful advertisement for the postal service. I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was not much appreciated by her bosses, although she never complained.

She seemed pleased to see every one, even the poor man who was emotionally disturbed and could not speak clearly.

Wendy took the time to understand him and talk to him; she was never impatient or dismissive. Sometimes people were rude; she never responded in kind or showed impatience.

The occasional angry

jerks would appear; they never rattled Wendy or got her to be angry.

I remember once when Wendy noticed that an older woman who came into the post office to check her post office box every day didn’t show up for two days in a row.

Wendy called the police, and they found the woman on the floor where she had fallen and couldn’t get up. Wendy saved her life.

She was a faithful reader of this blog, and she and Maria became fast friends sharing their love of animals.

There was no animal, animal show, or animal news that they didn’t are with each other. Maria loved to show her photos on her Iphone, and Wendy showed her the latest animal stamps.

Maria never went to the post office – she was always going to see “Wendy.”

Maria was sad to see her go, me too.

Wendy was happy to get her strawberry donuts. She said she might sneak them home and hide them from her family.

We’ll miss Wendy. Community will take a hit when she’s gone.

She understood that the post office wasn’t just a business but a place where the community came together every day.

She made everyone feel welcome, and she never lost her smile unless she’d seen some poor animal lying in the road while driving to work.

One of my happiest memories of her was the first time I met her. I went into the post office to buy some stamps and chose some dead president.

“Jon,” she said, “I don’t know if you know this or not, but Maria always gets flower or animal stamps.” Thanks, I said and got the ones she recommended.

I’m not sure I’ll ever get that kind of service again in a post office.