Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Sprengelmeyer
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 7/04/2018
Neillsville Post Office (Sprengelmeyer Retires – 29 June 2018)
Jane Sprengelmeyer, after working 24 years at the Neillsville Post Office, retired last week. During the day, many locals went to the post office to say goodbye to her, including Barb Boyer, who took in mail on Sprengelmeyer’s last day on June 29. (Ryan Spoehr/Clark County Press)
By Ryan Spoehr
It was the end of an era for the postal service in Neillsville last week, as a familiar face stepped away from the window.
Jane Sprengelmeyer, who had worked at the post office for 24 years, retired last week. Her last day on the job was June 29.
In the 24 years, she has seen an evolution in the postal service with many businesses and entities switching to digital and using the internet much more regularly.
“We’re so much more reliant on the scanning packages and tracking things for people, so much more than we used to,” Sprengelmeyer said. “First-class (mail) has declined, but we have certainly done more with the amount of packages on the delivery end of the outgoing end.”
Some of the evolution Sprengelmeyer has seen has been with the electronic sale of items through the internet.
“We’ve seen the increase in so many eBay people locally that have their products for sale and the packaging comes out here. Then we do the very first scan that gets it into the system and makes it trackable for the customers, as well as the person they’ve sold it to. We do a lot of that. We are more and more reliant on the computer systems, so that has been a lot of changes to adapt to.”
At first it was intimidating, Sprengelmeyer said.
“Tremendous repetition helped out,” she said.
Taking the retirement now was a chance for Sprengelmeyer to take care of herself.
“I’ve had some health problems, so it was a good opportunity to deal with that,” Sprengelmeyer said.
The post office had a retirement party for Sprengelmeyer on the morning of June 29.
“It was very nice,” Sprengelmeyer said. “They all came and brought some great food. We had the chance to reminisce a bit about all the things we’ve been through together. I’m going to miss them tremendously.
“There are so many people out in the community I’m going to miss too. I get used to seeing them, at time, two-to-three times a week and some of them every day. So, you get very involved with them and their families and all their situations, and them with mine. It’s going to be very tough not seeing them.”
She said she appreciated all of the customers for being there for her and supporting her through the years.
Many of the regulars stopped in throughout the day to say goodbye to her as she takes the next step in life.
