by Tim Gillie

STAFF WRITER

Another familiar face at the window in the Tooele post office is gone.

Lila Atkin, 72, retired yesterday after 24 years as a window clerk at the Tooele post office. Atkin is the last of three veteran postal employees that have retired in the last eight months, taking with them over 100 years of experience.

"We will miss their experience. Together, I think they knew everybody in Tooele," said Janet Vincent, Tooele postmaster. "We do have some very capable employees that will be working the windows now, so the public may have to get to know a few new faces."

As Atkin retires, she may not be replaced. Vincent said she is struggling with postal officials to get permission to hire a replacement for Atkin.

"They say our mail volume doesn't justify it [hiring a replacement]," Vincent said.

Working for the U.S. Postal Service was the fulfillment of a childhood dream for Atkin. She recalls coming to the post office in Tooele with her mother to buy stamps. While her mother waited in line, Atkin would play on the steps and slide down the ramps outside the entrance on Main Street.

"I don't know why, but from the time I was very little I always thought it would be fun to work at the post office," Atkin said.

Atkin's dream didn't come true until she was 49 and had raised her family. That's when she started working at the Tooele post office.

She said she has seen a lot of changes in 24 years.

"Zones, rates, zip codes -- they all had to be looked up in books," Atkin said. "Today the computer tells us everything."

When Atkin started to work at the post office every piece of mail for Tooele was hand-sorted. Today the mail is sorted by automated readers in Salt Lake that read the zip code and address. It is then delivered in bins sorted by route and in order of street addresses.

Not all the changes have been positive according to Atkin. She recalls a time when customer service was a higher priority.

"We used to have someone come on Christmas day, even if it was Sunday, and deliver anything that came in," Atkin said. "We don't do that anymore."

Atkin said she will miss the customers that come in on a regular basis. Whether it is mailing letters and parcels to places near and far, straightening out a delivery problem or ordering a replacement mailbox key, helping people solve their problems is what she said she has enjoyed most about her job.

However, after 24 years on her feet for eight hours a day, its time to move on, she said.

"I'm going to go home and work on that stack of stuff that I've set aside to do when I have time," Atkin said. "One of the first things on the list is a trip to Virginia to visit grandchildren."

tgillie@tooeletranscript.com