Brinks wraps up 26 years with post office

By Gary Raham
Wellington Correspondent

Wellington residents will miss the cheerful laugh of Nancy Brinks at the post office window.

Brinks retired at the end of December after 26 years of service. Her RV is idling in the parking lot, waiting for husband, Tom, to retire Jan. 3. Tom Brinks, also a postal clerk, works in Fort Collins.

They both love traveling and spending time with their five children and nine grandchildren, who all live in the Loveland/Fort Collins area. Brinks says she "wants to throw kids in the RV, take Highway 550 through Durango and show them some Colorado history."

Brinks, who was born and raised in Hollywood's San Fernando Valley, started her postal career in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Tom Brinks, already a postal employee, talked her into applying for a similar job during conversations in a coffee shop where she worked as a waitress. After starting a family, they decided to raise them in the less hectic and stressful environment of northern Colorado.

When their children were young, Brinks sought part-time positions. She turned down a full-time carrier job, but accepted a clerk assignment in Loveland shortly afterward. In Loveland, she worked with LaVonne Boersma, who later became Wellington's postmaster. After a short detour in Windsor, Brinks went to work in Wellington in 1992.

Every postal employee has a weather story - or ten. In 1988, Brinks and Boersma were the only employees to make it to work one day in Loveland, but they didn't have a key to get in. After rousing a key-bearer from bed and getting to work, they found out they were officially closed anyway. During the same storm, a snowplow inadvertently buried Brinks' Honda. In recompense, the driver plowed out the parking lot for them.

Brinks' philosophy is to "work hard and treat everybody with respect." In retirement she plans to play hard, too. New Mexico is one of the immediate destinations on her itinerary, followed by trips to visit relatives in both California and Kentucky. Friends may see her from time to time when she's home, and most likely the smile on her face will be even broader than it was when she was behind the counter at the post office on Cleveland Avenue.