GREENVILLE - Carol Unrast, who has worked at the Greenville Post Office for more than 26 years, is retiring at the end of January.

“I started in Greenville on Oct. 14, 1986,” she said. “I had given up hope. I took the [Civil Service] test two years before. I raised my children and they all were in school and I wanted to do something. I thought the post office would be a nice job.”

Finally, she received the telephone call she was waiting for.

“There is a waiting period,” Unrast said. “I figured I wouldn’t be hearing anything. Then, lo and behold, I got a phone call.”

For the first six years at the Greenville Post office, she worked in the back as a part-time, flexible person, working anywhere from two to 40 or 50 hours a week, depending on the mail.

“I learned all of the different jobs,” Unrast said. “At that time, it wasn’t all that automated. We threw mail to the carriers and had to learn all of the streets in Greenville and the county roads. We also did the same with packages and parcels. I mastered that.”

Then, she got the opportunity to take window training, which she ended up doing for more than 20 years.

“I loved every minute of it,” she said. “That’s what is making retirement difficult for me. I’m not a person to sit at home. I like working with the public. I’m going to miss my job so much. Customers meant the world to me, especially last summer when I had my accident.”

Unrast, who was off for a short time because of injuries from a traffic accident, admitted that she won’t miss the drive to work in bad weather.

She decided to retire because she is eligible with enough years in to do so.

“For many years, it was me and Steve Miller working the windows,” she said.

Postmasters she has worked for have been Roy Maxwell, who hired her; Joyce Daniel; Ron Simon; Phil Johnson; and current Postmaster Marge Luthman.

She said her life in retirement may see her helping people in anyway she can, mostly the elderly.

She and husband Al, live in Osgood in Darke County, a mile from Mercer County. She grew up and has lived in Osgood most of her life. They are members of St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Osgood.

The former Carol ‘Schmidt,’ she and her husband have been married 44 years. The first years of their marriage were spent in St. Henry and the remainder in Osgood.

“Al and I met in high school at Marion Local,” she said. “We’ve known each other 50 years and will be married 44 years this fall.”

They are the parents of three children and have nine grandchildren.

Unrast said she loves to bicycle and walk.

“We hit the trail in Dayton,” she said.

She may even get out the acoustic guitar her husband bought her two years ago and learn how to play it.

“I have some musical background but I know nothing about a guitar,” said Unrast whose the daughter of the late Lawrence and Ruth (Winner) Schmidt.

But, if she’s dedicated to that cause like she was her job, she probably will be picking away one of these days soon.