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Lenoir post office welcomes new leader

News-Topic - 7/2/2020

Jul. 1--Lenoir's new postmaster is a Navy veteran who has years of experience working a variety of jobs in the U.S. Postal Service.

Rebecca Jaco, who is originally from Cleveland, between Statesville and Salisbury, said that the opportunity to be postmaster in Lenoir was a chance to come home to North Carolina.

"I had always said I was going to come back, just didn't know when," Jaco said. "Something greater than myself has brought me here. I just believe everything is meant to be, so I'm meant to be here for a reason. I don't know why yet." She laughed.

Jaco left North Carolina at 18 and joined the military. Her time in the military allowed her to earn a bachelor's degree in business management and a master's degree in health care management, both from Saint Leo University.

Jaco spent nine years in the military before she joined the postal service, working in Tennessee and Mississippi for 16 years before moving to Lenoir.

She said she loves the job.

"It's always changing. It's always something new. I love that," she said. "I have a drive for that. I like something new all the time."

Jaco said she was looking for something closer to home -- Mississippi is around 14 hours away, and her parents are in their 70s.

She said that she has not always been a post office supervisor.

"I've done every job you can think of," she said. "I've worked mail. I've carried mail. I've cleaned the offices. I've done it all. I know pretty much every aspect. I've worked the window, working with customers on one-on-one, delivered the mail, been out there in the heat, cold, rain."

Jaco came to the Lenoir post office in March, in the beginning of the pandemic. COVID-19 has affected post office operations to some extent, she said.

"In that aspect, the safety is paramount, for the employees, for the customers," she said.

The Lenoir post office, a larger facility than the one Jaco managed in Mississippi, delivers mail to people who live in the 28645 ZIP code, a massive area that covers most of the county, from Yadkin Valley and Kings Creek in the east to the area west of Gamewell.

In her time here so far, Jaco has already broadened the selection of stamps the post office offers. She said she is excited about the opportunity here, and she plans to spend time out in the community letting people know about the different services the post office provides.

"My husband and I, we love this area," she said. "It is wonderful, the foothills, it's just so beautiful. It took me 20 years to convince my husband to come back to North Carolina," she said. "The only way I could have done it was to move to Lenoir."

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