Port Townsend mail carrier hanging up his mailbag today after 35 years

PORT TOWNSEND — In the course of his 35-year career, Mike Marson has traveled more than 200,000 miles, most of it in a small circle.

But it’s the people he’s met along the way, not the scenery, that matters.

“I’ll miss everybody here and on the route,” Marson says.

Here is the Port Townsend Post Office, and today is the last day of work for the mail carrier, who is retiring after 35 years, the last 17 years on the same route in Port Townsend.

“I like to see the people on the route I’ve gotten to know, even if it’s just a quick greeting,” Marson says. “I’ve watched a lot of little kids grow up and get families of their own.”

Growth is the major change Marson has seen since he took over Route 4 in north Port Townsend in 1986. Then there were four routes in the city. Now there are nine.

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The rest of the story appears in Wednesday’s Peninsula Daily News Jefferson County edition.

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