POULSBO — As a child, Kathy Hogue never dreamed of being a postal worker, but now after 30 years, she’s had quite a career.

Born and raised in Little Norway, Hogue still remembers when the post office was located just east of city hall on Jensen Way and that’s where she got her start in 1975.

“The postmaster said he had an opening and if I took and passed the test, I might get hired,” Hogue said as she reflected on her years spent not out on a route, but helping customers in the post office itself.

When she started, the post office only had about six routes and 1,000 post office boxes.

Now it boasts 19 routes and more than 2,000 boxes all due in large part to the city’s growth during the last 30 years.

“I’ve seen a lot of growth and we moved into our new building back in 1980 and now we’re out of space there,” she said.

After starting out sorting letters and flat packages, Hogue worked her way through the ranks and eventually became a floor manager, which meant arriving every morning at 5 a.m.

“I was in charge of making sure the mail was in the boxes before the supervisor arrived,” she noted.

Even though customers didn’t flood the post office until later in the morning,

Hogue and her co-workers weren’t alone as roosters sent in the mail greeted them with sounds from days gone by.

“I’d always call them first because most of them liked to be called as soon as they arrived,” she said.

Through the years, Hogue said she has also seen her fair share of tarantulas, ants and other small critters being sent in the mail.

With her retirement just days away, the sight of a long line meandering its way out the lobby doors brings back memories of 28 holiday seasons spent helping customers trying to make sure their gifts arrived on time, missing only one due to the birth of a child.

“It usually starts on Dec. 10 and probably ends about the second week of January,” she said. “You just have to learn to go with it and not get stressed out.”

Another big day for the postal service is the federal income tax filing deadline, which brings a host of familiar faces every year, she said.

“It seems like it’s the same people every year and they have to get it done by 5 p.m. because we’re not open until midnight like some other post offices,” she said.

As part of her job, Hogue said she has strived to educate people about how to properly package items and the other odds and ends that make dealing with the postal service easier.

That education often begins in preschool as every year local preschools tour the post office and see how the mail gets delivered, she said.

“We didn’t have tours but someone called and asked if we gave tours, so I ended up being a tour guide,” she said with a smile as she reflected on thousands of questions asked with childlike innocence.

Many of the children asked if she hurt her thumb, because postal workers wear rubber thumbs to allow them to sort the mail easier, she recalled.

At the end of 30 years with the postal service, Hogue has seen a myriad of technological upgrades, more than a few rate increases and four postmasters.

“I think they were 13 cents when I started and now they’re getting ready to go up again,” she said.

Now as she prepares to spend more time with her husband and two sons, all who live in the North End, there’s only two things Hogue said she will truly miss.

“The thing I’m going to miss the most is the people I work with and my customers,” Hogue said. “I still have to get my mail, so I’ll be around.”