Susan Nykaza remembers her first day on the job as a mail carrier in Blue Island.
It didn’t go very well.
“There was snow everywhere,” Nykaza said. “They sent me out to my route. I get out there and realized I didn’t have a mailbag. They forgot to give me a mailbag.
“I had a lot of mail, so I had to go back to the post office to get a mailbag.”
That was nearly 40 years ago. The mail came a little late that day.
The mail came a little late on Friday, too. Though no snow was to be found, Nykaza’s route in Blue Island found her delayed several times as residents stopped her to give out hugs and compliments as she completed her final day of delivering.
“You are the best!” one resident said. “I’ll miss you!”
The 62-year-old Tinley Park resident is retiring after 39 1/2 years on the job.
She said she had a goal of retiring at age 62 and was more interested in that milestone than hitting the 40-year mark.
And the thought of delivering through another winter didn’t appeal to her.
“The winters here get hard,” she said.
Despite the snowy hiccups from her first day, Nykaza knew she found her calling.
“I knew from the start that I got this job from God,” she said. “It’s just amazing.
“I wanted this job so bad, the snow didn’t matter.”
The Glenwood native and Bloom High School graduate tried a few occupations after high school but wasn’t all that comfortable with them. She said she worked at a car dealership when a boss suggested she take the post office test.
Nykaza said she took the test, scored well on it and anxiously waited to get started.
And waited. And waited.
Two years later, she finally got the call.
Nykaza said there have mostly been good times on the job. She said she has occasionally been attacked by dogs but never bitten.
She certainly wasn’t bitten on Friday as she said goodbye to one dog, Oliver, who has just one tooth.
“I’ve been on this route so long, I know all of the dogs and they are my buddies,” she said.
She has some more buddies, too. Those with just two legs.
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“My customers,” Nykaza said. “I built all of these relationships just by saying ‘hello.’ I would ask about their family. I would get to know the kids. A lot of the kids have grown up, now.”
Nykaza closed her career as one who delivers on foot. Those are becoming a rare breed as many carriers now use trucks and deliver to boxes on streets. The United States Postal Service says about 6,100 carriers deliver on foot.
Though the postal service did not provide numbers on how many deliverers use trucks, it said there are roughly 250,000 vehicles owned by the postal service. with most of them being used for local delivery.
“Blue Island is an older town, and the mailboxes are up the steps and on the house,” Nykaza said. “When new developments started coming, they started putting the boxes at the street.”
She said she enjoys the personal interaction that walking the routes provides.
Judy Tumas, who managed Jebens Hardware on Olde Western Avenue in Blue Island until 2019, became friends with Nakaza.
Tumas has since moved to Missouri but vowed to return for Nykaza’s final day. Tumas sandwiched herself between two signs hawking the event for “Postal Sue” and walked with her on Friday.
“She’s been a single mom and helped put her daughter through college,” Tumas said. “And she has been involved with her church. She is a great person.
“I told her that I was going to be here for her last day and here I am.”
One area that went all out to celebrate Nykaza’s last walk was the Mozart Street neighborhood. Many houses and yards were decorated with signs and balloons.
“All of the neighbors on Mozart are just great,” Nykaza said. “I’ve been to birthday parties, and they treated me like family.”
Donna Sullivan lives on Mozart and was sad to see Nykaza leaving her route.
“She’s been doing this forever, she’s a friend,” Sullivan said. “We invited her to my mother’s 90th birthday party. That’s how much we love her here.
“She’s always smiling and talks to everybody and she’s never in bad mood. She is genuinely a good person. I will miss her dearly, dearly.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.