NICE, Calif. – As friends, family and fellow postal workers looked on, the postmaster of the community of Nice celebrated her swearing-in during a Friday afternoon ceremony.

Patricia Gross, 55, of Bachelor Valley, a 23-year veteran of the US Postal Service, took her oath from Manager of Post Office Operations Bobbie Riley at the Nice Post Office, located at 3964 East Highway 20.

About 30 people were on hand for the event, including several of Gross’ fellow postmasters from around the North Coast: Postmasters Mike Stafford of Lucerne, Sandy Dawson of Clearlake Oaks, Cathy Swarm of Ukiah, Rhonda Ahanotu of Geyserville, Maureen Butcher of Fulton and Anita Rackerby of Occidental and Camp Meeker, as well as Michelle Lewis, who is supervising the Lower Lake Post Office, and Maria Lane, Gross’ longtime friend who is the former Lakeport postmaster and now the acting manager of post office operations for the San Francisco District.

The event also was a family affair for Gross, with her son and daughter-in-law, grandchildren and father all on hand for the event. Her little grandson, Ethan, led the flag salute.

Lane said Gross is the eighth postmaster for Nice, where the US Postal Service established its first post office in 1930 in a small store on Lakeshore Boulevard. Max Maiereder was the first postmaster. Just down the road, the town of Upper Lake had established it first post office in 1853.

In 1944, the first Nice Post Office was built. That building is now a café. The current building on Highway 20 was built in 1990, Lane said.

Lane and Gross worked together beginning as rural carriers in the 1990s in Lakeport. Gross began with the US Postal Service in 1994, transferring to Upper Lake in 1996, also as a rural carrier, and then moving to Lucerne in 2000 as a clerk.

Later, she worked as an officer-in-charge at the Covelo and Laytonville Post Offices, earning her first postmaster position was in Glenhaven in 2008. She held that job until she was selected as the postmaster for Nice.

Gross actually became postmaster in Nice in October 2012, but the formalities of the swearing-in had been delayed for various reasons.

“We’re going to install her so she can stay here,” said Lane.

Riley, who has worked to open up the postmaster celebration ceremonies to the communities, explained that, in any town, there is only one postmaster, adding, “Not every town has them anymore.”

She said post offices mean a lot to communities, citing an annual survey of government agencies that consistently ranks the US Postal Service as the No. 1 most trusted government agency.

Riley said the Postal Service handles items – mail and packages – important to the US public, and recounting the history of the agency, she said the United States wouldn’t be what it is without the Postal Service.

She said the items the Postal Service handles has switched from mail to primarily packages. It’s also had to “right size,” which meant downsizing its staffing to some degree.

Riley recalled that, in 2001, after the terrorist attack in New York, President George W. Bush called then-US Postmaster General Jack Potter and asked him if the Postal Service could deliver mail as closely as possible to the attack site, as there was no better symbol that the country was still going and business was still moving.

“The Postal Service was important then and it’s important now,” she said.

Locally, the Postal Service has responded in similar fashion to natural disasters.

Gross told Lake County News that she and other local postal workers assisted in Kelseyville during the county’s wildland fires with processing mail for fire survivors.

She said the Postal Service set up mail delivery at the Napa County Fairgrounds in Calistoga, where hundreds of Valley fire survivors stayed for weeks during the mandatory evacuations.

Riley said the best part of her job is that she gets to pick the postmasters. While she didn’t pick Gross – who already was at Nice before Riley took her current post – she said she would have chosen her, as her selection criteria focuses on people who will serve communities well.

Then Riley administered the oath of office to Gross, who was surrounded by her three grandsons, Dominic, 12, Ethan, 5, and Wyatt, 18 months.

Afterward, she called up the rest of her family, including her son, Kevin and daughter-in-law, Angela, who works at the Upper Lake Post Office, and her father, John Fix of Lakeport, who were with her as Lane presented her with her certificate of office.

The moment choked up Gross’ father and many of her colleagues. Lane, who herself became teary-eyed, said the honor of serving the community hits home.

Gross explained later that her father had been very supportive of her career in the Postal Service, and had for some time been asking her when her ceremony would take place.

She said she is looking forward to staying in Nice. “The customers are great.”

At the Nice Post Office, Gross has two employees who process and deliver an average of 2,150 pieces of mail daily to 1,832 post office boxes and one highway contract route with 313 delivery stops.

“I just love my job,” she said, explaining that it includes a wide variety of duties pertaining to the office’s operations.

She added that, for a small town postmaster, there are more opportunities to work closely with the community than there would be in a larger city.

The US Postal Service also is hiring hundreds of positions throughout Northern California, said Lane, who said it’s estimated that 70 percent of the service’s workforce is preparing to retire.

She said they’re looking for people who want to get on a career track, have steady employment, good wages and a good retirement.

Those interested in applying can visit the US Postal Service’s job search site to see what is available in their area.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.