Weigel Retires After 42 Years With USPS
By Jessica Wald
There have been 14 different postmasters at the Napoleon Post Office since it began in 1884, and the longest standing postmaster just retired at the end of 2024, after a 42-year career with the US Postal Service.
Cheryl Weigel, Kintyre, has been Napoleon’s postmaster since February 1995, but started with the USPS while she was in college. After graduating high school in 1981 from Stanton, she attended Bismarck Junior College (currently BSC) for a degree in accounting and also played on the Mystics basketball team.
During her sophomore year, Cheryl and her mom, Rowene Skalsky, decided to take a postal entrance exam when the opportunity arose. Both were hired; Rowene started as a part-time clerk in Stanton and became Postmaster in 1995 until she retired in 2002. Cheryl was hired on Christmas Day in 1982 and worked for a couple hours on Saturdays at the Stanton Post Office.
After college in ’93, Cheryl was transferred to the Bismarck Post Office and worked three different positions there within seven years.
After meeting her now husband, Terry of Kintyre, at “Bachelor Days” in Napoleon, the couple started dating and Weigel applied for the Postmaster position in the Wishek Post Office. She was hired in November of 1990 and moved to Wishek. In April of ‘1993, Cheryl and Terry were married. A couple years later the Napoleon PM contacted Cheryl and told her she is retiring and Cheryl then requested a transfer to the Napoleon PO and was hired as the Postmaster in February of ’95, replacing Millie (Wentz) Nicholson. In 2012 she was also assigned the Streeter Post Office, where she became the Postmaster there as well.
“I’ve loved going to work every day and have always tried to provide good customer service; following up with people,” added Cheryl, who was with the USPS from December 25, 1982 until her last day, December 27, 2024. She said her favorite parts about the job were the customers and employees. “I have had good customers and employees. They’ve made by job easy with good attendance and work ethic.”
Weigel said a couple unique things she’s seen mailed include every spring when baby chicks are mailed through the USPS to their owners. “I like seeing that and how the kids smile when the chicks are delivered and picked up.” She also said she’s seen people move through the mail; mailing all their belongings to be relocated to far distances such as Alaska.
There have also been some challenges throughout her career. Weigel said the weather is always a big factor, but she has only had to miss one day in all the 42 years, due to snow. “In 1997 there was 112 inches of snow so just getting to work was tough,” she said, as she did end up staying in town with relatives for 15 days that year, but still made it to work. “I couldn’t have done it without the highway crews, the county workers, my husband and other area farmers who kept the roads open so I could get to town,” she gratefully noted. She also said she recalls only one time having to sleep at the post office overnight, as her relatives out of town only one mile could not even get to her to give her a ride because of the bad white out with snow.
Throughout the four decades there have many changes made to the mail system. She said one of the biggest would be . . .