Vickie Rudd, the smiling face behind the counter of the Chelsea Post Office, has retired

Vickie Rudd didn’t need to choose a clean shirt Thursday night and affix her United States Postal Service name tag on it.

And, she didn’t have to set her alarm for 6:30 a.m. before she went to bed.

This morning, she could sleep in, relax with a cup of coffee, and decide how she’d spend Feb. 1 — her first day of retirement after 26 years with postal service, most of it spent working for Chelsea Post Office.

On Jan. 31, her last day on the job, Rudd’s coworkers threw a surprise party for her, and the tears flowed as she hugged person after person before she left the building for the last time as a lead postal clerk.

“Vickie probably knows the names of every person who walks in here,” said Kevin Higgins, who took over her route about 10 or 11 years ago when Rudd moved inside the post office to become a window clerk.

“Friendly, outgoing, happy, hard-working, very dedicated, loyal, doesn’t call in sick – she’s learned almost every position in this office,” said Postmaster Ted Duve.

“We were supposed to retire together but she beat me to it,” he said. “She’s been a part of this community and this post office for a long time.”

It was an emotional scene as coworker after coworker, friends and family, were on hand for the send-off.

“She knew every aspect of this place,” said supervisor Margaret Sessions. “All of us, the post master, the (mail) carriers, we’d go to Vickie when we had a question.”

Duve told the staff that Rudd was “a great co-worker and a great friend. It’s such a privilege for me to be post master and a friend of Vickie’s. She’s been such a big part of Chelsea and this post office. She’ll be greatly missed and it will be very hard to fill her shoes.”

When asked about her favorite memories, she said she enjoyed giving tours to the little kids. Rudd said the children were mesmerized watching the mail drop down the chute. But even more popular, she said, was the chance to get into a mail truck.

“I’ll never forget when there was a fire in the old post office and Margaret grabbed the fire extinguisher and leaped over the counter to put it out,” Rudd said.

Supervisor Lena Harper said, “It will take four people to do the jobs that Vickie did herself; we’re still sorting it all out.”

But before Rudd walked out the side door for the last time on Jan. 31, she had one last task to complete.

“I need to finish putting the P.O. bills in the boxes for February,” Rudd said.

But today, she has plenty of time to read, walk around the lake, and enjoy the first day of her retirement. And, she’s looking forward to this summer when she can spend as much time as she’d like on the lake in the new kayak Rudd’s husband bought her for her birthday.

She said she plans to take a vacation, relax, read, hang out in her “jammies, drink coffee and watch some talk shows.”

The Chelsea Post Office won’t be the same without her big smile behind the counter.