MONUMENT – Monument’s U.S. post office has a new postmaster, Ruth Shuck, who says “good service” is an important aspect of a small post office, a practice which she plans to continue.

Shuck worked various jobs in Long Creek, including cooking at the school, before joining the team at Long Creek’s U.S. post office. She was trained by Judi Denton and served as postmaster replacement for 3 1/2 years, prior to accepting the new assignment on April 20. Shuck noted the “neat network” among postal workers at Grant County post offices. She recently returned from a postmasters convention in Boise, Idaho, and “learned more about regulations.”

This fall, she plans to implement a program to help educate the foreign exchange students in Monument and Long Creek as to the requirements for U.S. mail service – what can be mailed and how to package/address items. Monument School’s dormitory houses about eight foreign students and likewise, Long Creek School will, for the first year, host eight foreign exchange students in its dormitory.

Ruth lives at Long Creek with her husband, Vic, who operates an excavation service. In her spare time, she enjoys riding horses and gardening. In fact, during her lunch hour, she gardens in a small plot in the yard adjoining the Post Office building. She is an active 4-H leader and FFA supporter. The Shucks have two children, Sara, a junior at Oregon State University, and Sam, who will be a freshman at Montana State University at Bozeman, Mont.

Former postmaster Cora Stubblefield still makes an appearance at the post office and delivers cookies to Ruth, who says people have made her feel at home in her new position.