Merrill Postmaster Joe Fink retired Friday from a lengthy career as a civil servant.

Fink started as Merrill Postmaster in August of 1998. His career with the postal service began in 1979, in South Florida, where he grew up. Include seven years in the military, he has logged over 38 years of federal service.

Fink started as a postal clerk in Florida and moved up to supervisor. In 1986, Joe and his wife moved to Wisconsin to be closer to her family in Edgar. Joe took a supervisor post in Tomahawk and the family settled in Merrill because it was halfway between Tomahawk and Wausau.

Coming from Florida, Joe’s first culture shock experience in Wisconsin was witnessing the Tomahawk Venison Feed, which takes place on the street right in front of the Tomahawk Post Office.

While in Tomahawk, Joe served periodically as temporary postmaster in Schofield, Crandon and Minocqua. He also filled in as associate office coordinator in Green Bay for a time.

In 1993, Joe became the postmaster for Mosinee, commuting from Merrill. In 1998, he got the job he’d had his eye on all along as Merrill postmaster.

"I take a lot of pride in the post office here," Fink said. "The folks in Merrill are keenly aware of what our mission is, which is service to the customer. People have such a good work ethic in central Wisconsin. I’m really appreciative of that. The employees in Merrill really want to take care of the customers.

"I’m happy to be retiring… but I’m going to miss working here," he added.

In his years with the postal service, automation has improved efficiency. Delivery point sequencing, for example, has saved carriers the time of sorting their mail by hand into the sequence by which it will be delivered.

"Automation has really helped the postal service," Fink said.

In his retirement, Joe says he’ll take it easy for the first year or so, continue his involvement with his church, do some traveling and improve his skills at his hobbies.

The Merrill Post Office delivers mail on 6 city route, 9 rural routes and has 498 post office boxes.

"I really enjoyed being postmaster in Merrill," Fink said. "It has been my honor to be able to be the postmaster and serve the people of Merrill."

Fink has also taken pride in the historic Merrill Post Office building, which was built in 1915 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. During Fink’s tenure, many changes have been made to upgrade the building while retaining its historic character. As a parting gift from the employees, Fink received a chunk of wood flooring to signify his persistence in maintaining the building’s original hardwood floors. Fink also found a number of interesting artifacts, including photos of the building under construction and photos and application cards of people who applied for jobs at the post office as far back as 1916. Many of those items were taken out of storage and are now in a glass display case in the post office lobby.

Gleason Postmaster Dale Gruhlke will serve as officer in charge of the Merrill Post Office until a permanent replacement is appointed, which could take three to six months.