She'll miss the people, but she's ready for a change. Brenda Mauk, a clerk at Gardnerville's U.S. Post Office for more than 31 years, is retiring.
The twinkle in her eye, however, gives her away as she talks of her plans for the future.
Retirement officially starts after she turns 55 on May 1, right after a three-week sabbatical she's planned with husband David in Cancun, Mexico.
The smile rarely left her face as she buzzed around the mailroom Thursday. Co-workers bantered back and forth easily, referring to her as "the short-timer."
"I will miss the people I work with, but this will be a whole new chapter in my life," she said. "I'll be able to work on my painting and ride my horse. We like to go backpacking. My sisters live nearby. We're going to have fun."
Aside from the four months she spent as interim postmaster in Coleville, Calif., and filling in as a supervisor once in awhile, Mauk has worked as a clerk since 1969.
"There have been lots of changes in postal service," she said. "Everything now depends on computers. We didn't have automation then."
Mauk grew up in Victorville, Calif., but the family moved to Yerington when she was a high school sophomore. She moved to Carson Valley right after graduating from Yerington High School in 1969.
Her identical twin sister, Beverly Hollander, worked for the Douglas County School District.
"People would come into the post office and ask me if I had two jobs," she said.
Her husband, David, works as a dental technician from their Ruhenstroth home and together, they raised two children. Son Mitchell is 30 and daughter Mishon is 26.
"David was born in the basement of the Minden Inn. His family is here and my parents weren't far, in Yerington," she said. "This is our home."
Susie Vasquez can be reached at svasquez@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 211.
