For 46 years, through heat waves and winter storms, changing neighborhoods and changing times, Gloria Flores has manned her station with a steady attention and a familiar smile. Now, after nearly half a century of service, one of the community’s most recognizable public servants is hanging it up, leaving behind not just a job, but a legacy measured in footsteps and friendships.
Flores, who started her job at the Hollister Post Office March 31, 1980, retired Jan. 30—just weeks before celebrating her 51st wedding anniversary with her husband, Samuel, Feb. 15. He retired a few years ago as a welder with the aviation department at Salinas Municipal Airport.
“I’ve been through a lot of supervisors and postmasters, but I always had a connection with the customers,” she said. “Work is work, you get the job done, but you can still have fun.”
She’s seen a lot during the past five decades and really bonded with her colleagues and customers.
“It’s almost like a family,” she said. “You’re there eight hours a day with the same people for years and years.”
Throughout her career, Flores said she’d often see people at the grocery store or around town. “They’d say, ‘we recognize your laughter,’” she said, displaying that infectious laugh.
Born in Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico, she was 1 year old when her parents moved to Hollister in 1953 with her two older brothers, Gabriel and Saul. Her mother worked in the Cannery in downtown Hollister and her father worked at Gilroy Foods.
She graduated from what was then known as San Benito High School in 1972, then from Gavilan College in 1974, with an AA degree in business administration. Flores worked several jobs including as a secretary at Gavilan, as a private secretary and at the county collections office in Hollister.
But it was at her job at Paicines Grocery Store that eventually led her to the Postal Service. While there, in addition to being a cashier, stocking shelves, pumping gas and working in the meat department, she also learned the ins and outs of the postal service as the store had a small postal department.
While working at the store, an employee at the USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, told her the post office was hiring and she could get a better paying job with benefits. That job helped her in what would eventually become her postal career, she said.
“I went through the testing and got a good score,” she said.
She worked in San Juan Bautista, Tres Pinos and eventually Hollister. At the three locations, she learned all aspects of the postal service: sales clerk, marketing sales, bulk mail, lead sales clerk and as the Officer in Charge.
“I did practically everything you can do at the post office,” she said of her 46-year career. “I enjoyed the customer service aspect. If a customer came in sad or had an attitude I’d try to send them away with a positive attitude and a smile on their face.”
And, even in retirement she couldn’t avoid helping a customer. While taking photos in the lobby on the Presidents Day holiday, a woman saw Flores in her uniform and asked for help. Without batting an eye, she directed the woman to the appropriate place to drop an envelope.
“If they ask a question, I’m happy to help,” she said.
And it appears help runs in the family. After her daughter, Elida, was born in 1975, followed by Javier in 1978 and David in 1985, she got babysitting help from her father who watched the two youngest when she first started at the post office.
“He was a great help while I was working,” she said.
As far as retirement goes, she said she misses the people, not so much the job. She plans on spending more time visiting her children and grandchildren, having lunch with friends, and maybe going traveling.
Emma Reynosa, her friend and former colleague who retired a few years ago and worked with Flores for 25 years, said the two are like sisters.
“She was good to work with,” Reynosa said. “I kept telling her to retire so we can go do more things together.”
“We’re going to try to hit every restaurant in Hollister,” Flores said with a playful laugh.
Now that they are both retired, they can do more things together. The two have gone on cruises together to Ensenada, Catalina, Cabo, and some girls trips to Santa Barbara, Solvang and New Mexico.
Even though she’s looking forward to retirement, she has fond feelings for the job where she spent nearly five decades.
“I loved my job, otherwise I wouldn’t have been there for 46 years,” she said.
