Couple set to take postal retirement after decades

In a couple of days, Joseph and Evelyn Smith's lives are going to change drastically.

That's because Friday marks the beginning of their retirement. They have both had careers as clerks with the U.S. Postal Service that have spanned the last few decades, and they will wave goodbye to the people and fond memories at the East Bay station on May 2.

Sophia Rodriguez/The Post and Courier

Evelyn and Joseph Smith are retiring next month after serving at various Charleston-area post offices for the past few decades. The couple looks forward to the possibilities retirement will bring.

The Postal Service has a seniority list for its clerks. Charleston's list has about 280 on the list right now. Joseph is at the top of that list with a total of 40 years under his belt, and his wife isn't too far behind, in the No. 7 slot. She started working with the Postal Service in 1977. Both liked the work environment so much that they made it a career.

"It's nice to have good people to work with," Evelyn said.

The Smiths were present for a lot of changes in how the post office operates, especially with mail-sorting techniques. Evelyn said she was lucky to start when she did, because her first job with the service, because it had just switched to the letter-sorting machine.

"We went from sorting manually to the (letter sorting machine) to the (single-position letter sorting machine)," Joseph said. Other machines followed, including one that sorts mail based on the order of locations that mail carriers hit on their routes, something that Joseph and Evelyn consider to be one of the biggest changes of all.

Unlike the current trend of switching places of employment and career paths on a whim, the couple stayed in for the duration, only switching locale from time to time. Evelyn worked at the old Rivers General Mail Facility in North Charleston, where she eventually trained to be a sales associate and window clerk. She moved to the East Bay post 15 years ago.

"In both places, it felt just like home," she said. "I was always so comfortable. I ended up staying for a long time."

Joseph moved around a little more. After he got out of the Army, where he barely skirted a tour in Vietnam, he started his Postal Service career at the same facility in North Charleston as his wife, but then went to the main office that used to be on Broad Street. From there he transferred to the Air Force base, then Ashley River station on S.C. Highway 61 in West Ashley. He has been at East Bay since July 1999.

"I've been in the clerk craft the whole time," he said. "I've done different things." He spent 22 of those years in the reserve and went to Saudi Arabia 1991-92 during the Gulf War.

The Smiths are looking forward to the little perks of retirement, such as not having to wake up early. The next two months will be filled with travel around the Southeast to attend family members' school graduations. Beyond that, Evelyn and Joseph don't have any firm plans beyond enjoying their hobbies of church involvement, bowling, walking and more.

"Once we're not working anymore, we'll have energy like we never had before," Evelyn said with a smile.

Reach Sophia Rodriguez at 937-5538 or srodriguez@postandcourier.com.