Installation ceremony for postmaster takes place

by Wanda Combs
Editor

Floyd’s new Postmaster, Marcie Shearl, took the oath of office Tuesday morning in a ceremony at the Floyd Rescue Squad building. Shearl, who began her new job June 5, is Floyd’s 28th postmaster.
At the Floyd Post Office, Shearl is charged with the responsibility of accepting, processing, and delivering the mail to the residents who live in Floyd, said Vickie Schnuerer, manager of post office operations for the Appalachian District. The Floyd Post Office, including 674 post office boxes and 2,848 deliveries on the rural routes, is expected to handle over 1.5 million pieces of mail this year.
“Postmasters are an important part of American history,” Schnuerer commented, and they are often the only federal official with which most citizens have contact. “There have been Postmasters in our country since 1636, when Richard Fairbanks established a post office in his tavern in Boston, Massachusetts. This chain of dedicated public servants includes Benjamin Franklin – the father of the American Postal System and many generations of Postmasters over the years, William Faulkner, Conrad Hilton, Abraham Lincoln, and Harry Truman.”
Shearl began her career with the Postal Service in Salem in 1995. In 2000 she became a PTF city carrier at the Melrose Station in Roanoke. In 2004, she was chosen as acting supervisor for the Cave Spring Post Office in Roanoke, and in 2005, she became a T-6 city carrier for the Grandin Road office until she enrolled in the ASP for the Roanoke Processing and Distribution Center. While working at the Center, she worked toward attaining her Bachelor’s degree from Hollins University. She has held several OIC (Officer In Charge) assignments and was promoted to the Supervisor in Customer Services in Rocky Mount on November 21, 2009.
Also participating in the ceremony Tuesday was retired Floyd mail carrier Maurice Slusher, who said the invocation. Slusher had 41 years of service with the Postal Service as a clerk and mail carrier.
Shearl told the family, fellow postal workers, and friends present Tuesday that she has enjoyed learning about the Floyd community. She has ridden along with the carriers on their routes, and she said she has enjoyed their stories of delivering in the winter and in the country setting. She added that it seemed the postal service “motto” might have to be modified to not only include rain, snow, sleet….but also “deer, bear and coyotes.” She said she appreciates the cooperation from all of the employees at the post office in helping her learn about the operations here.