'Face of post office' retires after 35 years

Vincent Owens offers assistance to his replacement, Sonya Schroeder, who will now serve as supervisor of customer services at the High Street Post Office. Owens recently retired after 35 years of service to the agency but was at the facility Friday for a brief retirement ceremony.
Vincent Owens offers assistance to his replacement, Sonya Schroeder, who will now serve as supervisor of customer services at the High Street Post Office. Owens recently retired after 35 years of service to the agency but was at the facility Friday for a brief retirement ceremony.

The long-time face of the U.S. Post Office downtown has retired.

He's so familiar, people who knew Vincent Owens - who just retired after 35 years - thought he was the postmaster. He was the supervisor of customer service.

The confusion is understandable, said Krystal Drone, the postmaster of the Jefferson City Post Office. Owens was so dependable, Drone relied on him for all the day-to-day operations of the office at the location, 131 W. High St.

She spends most of her time at the Jefferson Street location, supervising deliveries and overseeing five other community post offices in the region.

The two share a humorous story about the confusion. Owens oftentimes parks in a space reserved for the postmaster. So on a recent day, when he knew Drone would be arriving at the downtown location, he parked a few spaces away.

Drone pulled in and got out of her car. Workers at Arris's Pizza, who shooed away people that tried to park in the space, told Drone she couldn't park there because it was the space for the postmaster.

"But, I'm the postmaster," she explained.

"Yes, but this is for the postmaster here," they replied.

About 20 colleagues, friends and family members attended a ceremony in the lobby of Owens's post office Friday morning.

"Having Vince up here was a blessing, because I didn't have to worry about this office," Drone said. "He did a really good job with it."

She said Owens was one of the first people she befriended in the post office when she arrived. He taught her about the relationship between management and the union and the history of the Jefferson City Post Office.

"(Vince) had a rapport with the customers like nobody else," she said. "He knew every state agency and the mail supervisor in every one of those buildings. He made my job very, very, very easy as the postmaster in Jefferson City."

People trusted Owens, who cared about his customers, she said.

When Owens arrived, the office was in a state of transition, he said.

"It was rough when I first got here. We made it through," he said. "And, I actually think it's one of the best-run offices in the district."