SAN MARTIN
– A Gilroyan with a real-estate license and a background in
journalism is the person ultimately responsible for making sure San
Martin residents get their mail.
SAN MARTIN – A Gilroyan with a real-estate license and a background in journalism is the person ultimately responsible for making sure San Martin residents get their mail.
On Friday, Tracey Fry DeBell will take the postmaster oath of office, forwarding a career she began a decade ago as a letter carrier. DeBell replaces retired Postmaster Charles Mirrone, who was DeBell’s boss when she began her Postal Service career in Saratoga.
“It’s one of those weird ironies,” DeBell said.
Irony or destiny, DeBell appreciates her newfound position.
“I feel blessed to have inherited the proficient team of workers I did. It certainly makes my transition easier.”
DeBell, 35, was named postmaster at San Martin in August. She comes off a stint at Brookdale where she was officer-in-charge.
Prior to that, she worked from 2000 to 2002 as secretary to the San Jose Post Office district manager. In 1999, DeBell was appointed marketing secretary to the San Jose district manager and served as a retail specialist.
In 1996, two years after
being on the job in Saratoga, DeBell was pro-moted to mail pro-cessing and cus-tomer service supervisor.
She now inherits a San Martin post office that delivers 17,000 pieces of mail daily to 2,600 addresses and 1,000 post office boxes – a process she gets directly involved with sometimes given her staff only consists of nine.
DeBell attended El Roble Elementary School and South Valley Junior High in Gilroy before graduating from Gilroy High School in 1986. She graduated from San Jose State University in 1991 with a bachelor of arts degree in public relations and business.
DeBell dedicates some of her spare time as a substitute child care worker in Santa Cruz at a group home agency for at-risk teens. The remainder of her free time is spent boating, working on her photography, creative writing, visiting family and taking care of her pet cat Sassafrass.
The San Martin Post Office is located at 200 E. San Martin Ave. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The phone number is 683-0429.
