Donna McNeil’s family tree is brimming with postal employees. Her mother worked at a post office, her grandmother was postmaster of Deer Harbor and her great uncle rowed the mail to the hamlets of Orcas at a time when the roads didn’t extend to the different hubs of the island. Not only did her family deliver the mail but they were one of the first settlers – the Cayou family. This rich history makes McNeil’s recent position, Eastsound postmaster, a natural step.

“It helps that I know the community,” she said.

Dana Starfire, Orcas postmaster, calls McNeil’s history invaluable to the job.

“Sorting and helping people find mail turns us into detectives,” she said. “The knowledge that Donna has – you can’t pay someone to have that knowledge because she has been here for so long.”

McNeil, who was born and raised on-island, started working as a cleaner at the post office when she was 18. She then worked as a letter carrier substitute, then clerk, then postmaster at Orcas office. She has spent more than 30 years on the job.

“It was a long-term goal to be in the postal field and have a job so I could sustain a living,” she said.

One of her goals at the Eastsound office is to hire three new people so that they are fully staffed and can more quickly handle lines at “rush hour.”

“I am working on getting thing in shape,” she said.

Her appointment coincides with Starfire taking over as postmaster of the Orcas Post Office.

Starfire also worked her way through the postal system, starting as a letter carrier and moving on to clerk. She said she always wanted to become a postmaster.

After eight interviews, Starfire was promoted to postmaster in the town of Index, Wash., in 2008.

When a job opportunity came up for Waldron Island, Starfire jumped at the chance to try living off the grid. On Waldron she found people that were extremely passionate about having a post office because it was their main way to receive goods or important items like automotive parts that would fix a failing vehicle. The community fought and won to keep the place open six hours a day. She went on to be a postmaster on Lopez, and then this April officially landed the job of Orcas postmaster.

“I like the mail. Once you start working with the mail, there is a connection with people. It’s  all about the people – it connects people,” she said. “The Internet has changed things. Now we’re geared toward small packages. People are shopping more online.”

What makes Starfire and McNeil’s jobs as postmasters on island this year even more timely is that the  first ever female postmaster general was named. Megan Brennan is the 74th postmaster general.

Starfire recently had an opportunity to meet Brennan at a national postal conference.

Starfire recalls asking Brennan for a “selfie” and then telling her, “I’m so proud of you for being the first woman.”

She calls the meeting the highlight of the convention. For Starfire, the inspiration of meeting Brennan just adds to her general love of the mail.

“It’ like a puzzle you put together,” she said. “I love puzzles.”