Lecompton ? Today will be a day of memories and mixed emotions for Vicki Bahnmaier as she opens the Lecompton post office for the last time.

After 30 years with the U.S. Postal Service – including the last 18 as Lecompton postmaster – Bahnmaier is calling it a career.

“It’s been a wonderful ride,” Bahnmaier said this week, between taking care of customers at the counter and answering phone calls at her desk.

It’s a ride that began in 1976 when Bahnmaier started as a rural Lawrence letter carrier.

“I’ve driven in snowdrifts that were up to the middle of the door,” Bahnmaier said. “I had three flat tires in one day.”

Bahnmaier once even found herself assisting with a cattle drive. Rural resident I.J. Stoneback asked her to drive her car behind cattle he was moving through the area of what’s now Clinton Parkway and Wakarusa Drive.

“I’ve had some funny experiences,” Bahnmaier said. “I had a lot of good customers who would look after me. They would worry about you if you weren’t around, and I really appreciated that.”

In 1985, Bahnmaier became a rural carrier in the Lecompton-Stull area and three years later was named postmaster. She has overseen an office that includes a clerk and two carriers and serves about 3,500 customers. She said she has enjoyed a strong friendship with those customers as well as providing services for them.

Vicki Bahnmaier, Lecompton postmaster, waves at a passer-by outside the post office. Bahnmaier will retire Jan. 1, after 18 years as postmaster in the town about 10 miles northwest of Lawrence.

One thing Bahnmaier hasn’t enjoyed, however, has been entering the computer age.

“The switch to computers has been difficult for me because I’m older and I didn’t have a computer at home,” Bahnmaier said. “I could do my paperwork faster manually.”

Bahnmaier, 60, lives in Lecompton and plans to take it easy, at least during her first year of retirement. In September she will travel with a friend to Africa.

“I’m not planning on doing too much before then,” she said.

Judging from comments postal patrons have written in a memory book at the post office counter, Bahnmaier will be missed.

In addition to her postmaster job, Bahnmaier is a regular community volunteer and has delivered meals to senior citizens, Lecompton resident Opal Goodrick said.

“She’s so sweet and accommodating,” Goodrick said. “She always has time to ask you about your health and wish you a good day before you go out the door. I’m sure going to miss her downtown.”

Lecompton’s interim postmaster will be Bahnmaier’s clerk, Elaine Crain.