Biographie Suzanne Requier

A Canada Post employee from Donnelly reached a monumental milestone last week.

Suzanne Maisonneuve, postmaster at the Donnelly post office, celebrated her silver anniversary of employment at the local post office Aug. 12 after being given a surprise party fit for a queen.

The responsibility of coordinating the 25th anniversary bash rested squarely on the shoulders of Emelie Garant, a casual postal employee at the Donnelly post office, and assistant postmaster Julie Gagnon, both of whom laid out all the pieces of the party puzzle prior to the arrival of a shocked Maisonneuve on Tuesday morning.

Maisonneuve, who showed at work shortly before 8 a.m. that day, said she couldn’t believe her eyes when she entered the building to find a colourful assortment of flowers in addition to a 25th anniversary cake and other goodies scattered around the office.

The first thing that entered my mind when I walked in was what the heck is going on. I had no idea that it was my 25th anniversary. It really came as a pleasant surprise, said Maisonneuve, who was treated to a free lunch by her co-workers at Mercier’s Corner that day.

Residents throughout the community and region, including postal workers from both McLennan and Falher, filtered into the post office throughout the day to offer their congratulations and best wishes to Maisonneuve on her commemorative anniversary date.

We had a lot of people streaming in and out of the office all day, said Maisonneuve.

It was really nice to see.

One of her most memorable highlights of the day came when her first grandchild, Marek (son of Richard and Cindy Maisonneuve), arrived at the post office.

Her second grandchild, Halle (daughter of Michel and Corrie Maisonneuve) was unable to attend in addition to her two daughters, Rachel and Jacqueline, who reside in the region but were in Quebec at the time of the anniversary celebration.

Maisonneuve, who lives with her husband, Denis, just outside of Donnelly, began her employment with Canada Post back in 1978 after accepting a position as a part-time assistant to former postmaster Pauline Doyle, who taught Maisonneuve the ropes of the postal industry before retiring in 1986.

That left the door wide open for Maisonneuve to slide into the role of postmaster, a position which has provided her with a wealth of wonderful memories, a sense of fulfilment and endless amounts of enjoyment over the course of the last quarter century.

The past 25 years of work at the post office has been a very unique and interesting experience for me personally, she says.

I truly enjoy my work, especially the daily interaction and conversations I have with residents.

Maisonneuve has no intention of retiring anytime soon and plans to work for another five to 10 years before eventually handing over reins of postmaster her successor.

The day will come at some point down the road when I’ll have to call it quits.

Hopefully that’s still a few years away.

My plan right now is to keep working for as long as possible leading up to my retirement.

A Canada Post employee from Donnelly reached a monumental milestone last week.

After that, I’ll concentrate on being full-time grandmother.