FARMINGTON – Whether you’ve seen her dressed as a witch in a hot pink tutu dancing down Main Street or behind the front counter of the post office in her postmaster uniform, chances are you’ve seen Sue Jones in one role or another. No matter the role, Jones is typically found dancing, usually with a handful of smiling children in her wake.
Jones began teaching dance classes shortly after moving to Kingfield in 1996. With no formal training, she taught alongside Betsy Anderson who had started a small dance school. The free classes filled up quickly and eventually grew to include 75 children in one show. When Anderson passed away, Jones kept the class going, seeing the need in the area.
“I just felt like I wanted to do it for her. Up here in this part of Maine, if you offer something you can do, the people will come,” she said.
Jones has taught more than 1500 kids over the years, always for free, and always with an emphasis on inclusivity. Her knack at making kids smile has even flowed over into her job as Postmaster at the Farmington Post Office. Jones has led hundreds of kids on numerous tours of the post office, letting them sit in the mail truck, and see the behind the scenes work. Jones uses the example of being Farmington’s first female postmaster to emphasis to the kids that they can do anything they want to do.
“I’ve been the first in a lot of things in my lifetime as a woman. First woman in my family to go into the service…so many things, especially in the postal service. I was up against 10 people, all men. Sometimes I’d go into meetings and there’d be 12 men sitting around a table, and maybe one or two women. Things are changing now, but I tell the kids, you can do anything,” she said.
Jones will be retiring at the end of this month, with a celebration later this week. Her portrait will be hung in the lobby alongside a slew of photos of men.
Jones said she plans on continuing her feminist work after retiring, and plans to start a women’s ministry program that will reach out to help women in surrounding communities.
“There’s a need. It’s covid related. There’s this after effect going on, after people have been isolated and their needs haven’t ben met. I’m not sure where it’s going to take us but I know where to start.”
The pandemic presented a unique challenge to Jones and her postal crew. As people went into lock down, the online orders started trickling in. Eventually, Jones and her crew went from deliver 60 to 70 packages a day to 300 a day. She said that even now, as the pandemic has started to dwindle, people are accustomed to online ordering. The numbers haven’t gone down.
“It hit us hard. I’ve never seen anything like it. Everyone told me to just retire…and I could have…but I have a dedication to the people who work for me and around me. I had to go through it with them.”
Her crew at the post office is one of the things she’ll miss most, she said. That, and helping customers. Jones said they take on the responsibility of identifying scam letters, and often personally reach out to people to make them aware. She said they have saved dozens of people, particularly elderly people, from falling for scams.
The love of her customers, her team, and the community at large, is part of why Jones is so excited to celebrate this Thursday.
“We haven’t had a chance to celebrate anything in a long time. I just want everyone to come together and have a fun time,” she said.
The ceremony will kick off at 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 26, behind the post office. Music and refreshment will be provided and there will be an open house when Sue Jones portrait is hung in the lobby. The ceremony is open to all.
