A 25-year
career in the U.S. Postal Service ended this month for Sherwood's postmaster
Ruth Barber. Barber, who was born and raised in nearby Mark Center, Oh.,
began her postal service in Sherwood in 1979.
She worked as a clerk from 1979-86 in Sherwood post office under Victor
Ramus, Sherwood’s previous Postmaster, and then transferred to Defiance.
Besides Defiance, she also worked in Jewell and Edon, where she was a
postmaster for about one year in 1989. An opening came up in Sherwood for a
postmaster, so she transferred back here. Altogether she has worked for the
U.S. Postal Service for 25 years.
She enjoys
working in a small town like Sherwood. She was quoted as saying "The best
part of the job has been working with the people and getting to know
everyone in the community, you don't get to know people in larger
communities like you do in the smaller ones."
Barber has seen a lot of changes over the years in the postal system and
says the biggest change with her job has been in the automation
department. "Everything is presorted,” she says. But they still do a lot of
hand sorting of postal material in Sherwood.
At the post
office in Sherwood, Barber was in charge of a substitute employee, Sherri
Ramey, and one rural route delivery system. Sherwood residents have post
office boxes and do not have home delivery. This has given Barber the
opportunity to get to know a lot of the local residents even better. "I have
started and ended my career in Sherwood," she said. "And I have really
enjoyed it."
As to her plans for retirement, Barber said, "I have two grandchildren,
in Dayton, so we will be visiting in Dayton a lot. Aside from that, I don't
have any other special plans."
"My husband is retired so we can pretty much come and go when we want."
The
postmaster duties will be handled by another postal employee from Stryker
until we can find a replacement postmaster for Sherwood.
