SAN JOSE, CA — After more than four decades of devoted service, Lucy Laffan will sort her last letter in the Box Section at Station D, 70 S. Jackson Street, San Jose CA 95116, on Thursday, October 29, 2009. At the conclusion of her day at 3:30 p.m., friends, family and co-workers will be there to make sure she punches out on time to enjoy her retirement amid fanfare.
Laffan began her Postal Service career on April 5, 1969 as a distribution clerk at the Willow Glen Post Office at 1750 Meridian Ave., in San Jose. A year later, she bid to Station D as a timekeeper, a job she held for 7 years. In 1977, she became a Box Clerk, her current job and one she has held for more than 30 years. During that time, she trained other clerks and letter carriers, two of which eventually went on to become Postmasters of San Jose – Noemi Luna, now the San Francisco Postmaster, and current San Jose Postmaster Sam Vasquez.
When a new system was introduced that is the current foundation for processing Box Section mail, she became such an authority on it that she often got calls from around the Bay-Valley District and as far away as the Pacific Area office in San Diego to help solve processing problems.
Laffan met her husband, Danny, a letter carrier at Station D, in 1972, and they were married the same year. Danny Laffan is currently the President of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), Local 193. They have two grown children, a son who is a Paramedic and Lieutenant in the Oakland City Fire Department, and a daughter who works in the concrete industry. They have four grandchildren.
Laffan plans to work in her garden, spend time with family and friends, and travel to their hideaway in Round Mountain, CA. They have three dogs, one of which is a Catahoula bred to hunt razor back pigs in Arkansas, where Laffan was born.
Media Alert: For photo and interview opportunities, contact Station D Manager Doug Liebel at (408) 483-8333.
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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 149 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes, six days a week. It has 34,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services, not tax dollars, to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.
