Beloved worker retires from Robbinsville Post Office
Robbinsville – Wilma Carver Aiken could not help but smile when the cake was unveiled.
“I don’t know how they did it, but this is my favorite picture,” Aiken said of the photo, which had the words “Happy retirement Wilma! We’re cheering you on!” above the memory.
Taken in 1963, Aiken is at far left on what is now Bob Colvin Field. She was a freshman cheerleader for the then Robbinsville Blue Devils and one of the select few who can lay claim to cheering on both the Devils and the Black Knights, which came into existence the following year.
“I’ve got that framed and in my bedroom; it makes me smile every morning,” she added.
Surrounded by former postal workers, friends and colleagues, Aiken’s retirement party from the Robbinsville Post Office on April 13 was filled with plenty of laughter and memories. Above all else lingered one universal theme: respect.
A Mountain View original, Aiken is the fourth member of her family to make sure the H72 route is covered Monday through Saturday. Stretching from Old Highway 129 to Deals Gap – and all points in between – Aiken has made the 93-mile, 572-box route her own since it was handed off by her mother, Roxie Carver, in 1999.
“Faset Jenkins had this route originally, and my dad substituted for him,” Aiken said. “Because it’s a highway contract, he was bringing mail from Maryville (Tenn.) to Tapoco Lodge. Then, they closed the post office at Tapoco, and my momma started carrying it. She carried until she was 87, and I took it over.
“It’s been in my family for a long time; every one of my family members has either carried the mail or substituted. We’ve all been a part of it.”
Somehow, Aiken is back at the Robbinsville Post Office off Sweetwater Road by 4:30 p.m. each day – though that could have been a few minutes off April 13, thanks to her retirement party.
Even among her peers, Aiken barely slowed down long enough to enjoy the retirement party. She ate the T-Dubbs barbecue, Ingles-crafted cake and homemade fudge made by one of the attendees.
“I’m going to be 75 in June,” Aiken said of why she’s decided to put the brakes on her career. “Since they have dumped Amazon packages on us, you can’t get them all delivered. It’s like it’s Christmas, all the time.”
But while others continued to laugh and reminisce over their meals, Aiken disappeared from the proceedings.
Suddenly, she was spotted all the way across the room, sifting through envelopes.
After all, there was still mail to be delivered.