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When she came home from work, dead on her feet, there were seven little pairs of hands ready to massage her weary legs. ‘I was lucky,’
postal pioneer saysHired in 1965, Mary
Ann Hashimoto was Hawaii's
first female letter carrierBy Pat Gee
Star-BulletinIt was required even for 4-year-old Lili-Ann to take turns with her brothers and sisters to help massage their mother, Mary Ann Hashimoto.
But her mom deserved the special treatment, according to a grown-up Lili-Ann Say. In 1965, Mary Ann became Hawaii's first female letter carrier and was more than carrying her weight.
The petite letter carrier weighed only 100 pounds, probably just a bit heavier than the sacks of mail she lifted every day into her mail truck, Say said.
"She was a solid rock. She was a good example to her children. She was a good worker who never called in sick. I'm really proud of my mother. She's still working and loves working," she said.
Now 65, Hashimoto said she plans to stay on the job as long as she can do it well. But 10 years ago, she gave up the heavy stuff and became a window clerk at the Barbers Point Post Office.
To Hashimoto, being a "first" in the postal system wasn't anything to write home about. But it was newsy enough at the time that an Associated Press article about her appeared in the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal. Today, 27 percent of Hawaii letter carriers are women, a U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman said.
The only reason she took the job, after getting approval from her husband, Willard, was that it offered more money than other jobs and was advertised as a "part-time, flexible" position, ideal for a mother of seven.Eventually she would have a total of eight children -- two of whom, Lili-Ann and Willard, Jr., became massage therapists.
It turned out that "flexible" was a drawback, because it meant the post office "could work me as many hours as they wanted, straight time, no overtime pay" in those days, Hashimoto recalled. And that's what happened. Hashimoto carried a full load from the beginning, often 50 hours a week, split shifts and "crazy hours."
She wouldn't have been able to manage if it weren't for the help of her mother and eldest daughter, Jan. She also got plenty of good advice from co-workers who weren't a bit resentful that a woman had invaded what was then male territory, Hashimoto said.
The dogs on her Ewa Beach route were her worst problem. Back when there was no leash law, "it was so difficult," she said. Co-workers told her, "don't try to run, and don't turn your back on a dog," said Hashimoto, who often had to take mail back to the post office marked "loose dog."
The best thing about the job was watching kids on her route grow up over the 25 years she delivered mail in the same neighborhood.
"I first saw them as pre-schoolers," she said.
Before she knew it, they were getting married. One particularly cute boy was her favorite, and "his mother kept me in touch with all his activities. When he had his first baby, I felt like I was the grandmother," she said.
"It's like family," she said, of seeing the same faces every day and being able to "tell if something's troubling them." Or "they share good news with me ... I was lucky."
Even though it's been 10 years since she delivered a route, Hashimoto still can remember the addresses of customers, something she said is quite ordinary for most mail carriers.
Once, when she was in Las Vegas, two teenagers came up to her and "called me 'Auntie Mary'. I didn't recognize them because they had grown up, so I said, 'Give me your last name.' And then I told them their house number and street." They were astounded, she said.
Another perk that came with a mail route, recalled daughter Michelle Santos, was the armloads of gifts her mother would come home with at Christmas.
Wherever the family went in Ewa Beach, everyone recognized Hashimoto, and Santos remembers being proud her mom was so popular. When the postal workers had to march in a parade, her mother stood out -- "she'd be the only female in a skirt," even though she wore culottes on a daily basis, Santos said.
Daughter Yvonne Salva said the only thing that bothered her and Michelle was they couldn't "intercept deficiency notices from school" from their mailbox, because Hashimoto's "network of friends" at work would have already brought the letter to her attention.
Despite the heavy workload, Santos said Hashimoto was "very close with all her kids," somehow finding time to be involved with school activities, too.