Retirement awaits 37-year Gustine postal worker

Pat Rego is retiring from the Gustine Post Office after a 37-year career.

GUSTINE – A career spanning nearly four decades at the local post office will come to a close at the end of this month, when retirement beckons for long-time employee Pat Rego.

Rego, whose official last day on the job is April 30, has worked at the local branch for some 37 years – during which time she has done everything from sorting and carrying the mail to handling the daily postal paperwork to helping customers at the counter.

She was hired on by postmaster Dave Matoza after answering a newspaper ad, and has since worked for Jim Miller, Ron Deaver, Mike McCormick, Anna Buettner and current Officer in Charge Don Laws.

While technically a clerk, Rego said, there are few jobs in the workings of the local branch that she hasn’t handled.

“I am a clerk but I carried a lot, especially in those early years. (Working in the office) and carrying both have good points. Working as a clerk is good because you get to meet and know your customers. Carrying is great because you are outdoors; on beautiful days that is wonderful,” Rego explained.

Her duties also include completing the paperwork when the postmaster is gone.

“I think I have done just about everything here,” Rego related. “The only thing I haven’t done is be a rural carrier.”

Her daily routine has included getting up at 5 o’clock every morning to be at work at 6:30.

Rego, the longest-tenured employee at the Gustine Post Office, has seen countless changes in how the mail is handled, thanks largely to automation in the process.

One thing that hasn’t changed, Rego said, is the importance of the mail in the everyday lives of postal patrons and the dedication of workers to go the extra mile to meet their needs.

“I have always tried to do my best with customers,” she explained. “(In this job) you have to be good with customers. You have to put them first.”

Rego said she has never lost her appreciation for the job, for her customers and for her co-workers.

“It is like a second family here. You get to know everybody and know what is going on in their lives,” she commented. “You get to meet everybody in town with this job.”

Rego said she is looking forward to retirement and to spending more time with her children and grandchildren, but acknowledges that retirement will signal a major change in her life.

“I am looking forward to retirement, but it is a big change and a big decision,” Rego reflected. “I am going to miss this. It has been a part of my life.”