From hand sorting to computerization, the post office has undergone myriad changes during the past two decades but the biggest change, according to Jeff Wood, will be the retirement of long-time postal clerk Bonnie Callaghan. Wood, a 27-year employee with the Spencerport Post Office, spoke fondly of his co-worker and friend Callaghan, who will be retiring on February 27. Wood, who has worked with Callaghan for all of her 22 years, remembered when she first walked in the door looking for a part time postal position and the rest, as they say, is history. "We had a lot of good times together," Wood said. "During the time we worked together, our families were growing up together and we would spend a lot of time talking about things that popped up in our lives." Callaghan, who accepted a voluntary retirement, said she is looking forward to becoming a "snowbird" for six months of the year. "We just want to go south for the winter and now is the time to do this," she said, adding that her husband Gary, retired in December from Kodak. When she first began her career at the post office, Callaghan said she took the postal exam for clerk/carrier with the notion to work part time while her kids were growing up. "Part time started out at 15 to 20 hours a week and somehow grew to 40 hours," she said, adding with a laugh, "once the kids grew up, got married and moved away I figured I might as well stay." While she is looking forward to traveling with her husband and spending more time with her two Shelties, Callaghan said she is going to miss "her" customers. "I've made a lot of good friends with my customers and I am going to miss them all," she said. "I've always liked the people I've worked with too - they are a great bunch. It's going to be hard to say good-bye." In addition to the post office job becoming more automated and the move to the bigger, brighter office Callaghan said that the Spencerport area has grown by leaps and bounds during her time here. "When I first started, customer service was something we prided ourselves on but now it is truly a priority. We try to spend time with the customers and sometimes it's hard because we have so many people coming through the doors." Wood says that postal employees probably only manually sort about one quarter of the mail volume that comes in the doors. The rest is mechanically sorted before it gets to the Spencerport office. As a way to lighten the dark mood cast by Callaghan's impending retirement, Wood remembered the "rites of winter" that took place at the post office. "The first rite was to put a snowball down Bonnie's back - I'm definitely going to miss that," he said. Spencerport Postmaster John Baker has only worked with Bonnie for the past year but said she will be sorely missed. "She goes above and beyond what someone in her position normally would," he said. "Bonnie is so conscientious and concerned with her co-workers, the products we sell, and the customers. Not only will the postal service miss her, but I will as well." Callaghan's fondness for Joe Montana and Barry Manilow were also topics of conversation around the sorting table, Wood said with a laugh. "There were also Bonnie's attempts at cross country skiing which ended up with her being in a puddle," he said. "There have been a lot of changes in personnel over the years but I don't think there will ever be a change as big as Bonnie's leaving." As for Callaghan's immediate plans, she and her husband plan to spend the month of March in Florida. "We're going to sell our house and be snowbirds for a good six months of the year," she said, adding that because her parents were both in nursing homes, she wants to volunteer her time at a nursing home or hospital. "I just want to spend time visiting residents or patients who might not have any family to come and see them." In addition to their traveling they will stop and visit their two daughters - DeeDee and her husband, Andrew Morpurgo, and their children, Hannah and Joseph; and Tamara and J.C. Nou and their children, Lydia and Callaghan. |
