When I met Karen McTaggert, the first thing she said to me was “230”. I was a little confused because our meeting was supposed to be at 1:30, not 2:30. But then she said, “You own chickens, your husband rides a bike around the neighborhood.” And then I realized she was referencing my street address. Karen was my mail carrier, and she admits that she categorizes people by their street number. It’s like a conjuring trick. On a ferry to Martha’s Vineyard, she also amazed a couple who resided on her route.
Photo provided by the author
Karen McTaggert
Karen says she could do her route in her sleep.
Karen has delivered the mail in Suffield for 29 years – actually she has worked for the United States Postal Service for 36 years – but for seven years she subbed and worked part-time in the Southwick post office and the bulk mail center in Springfield which do not count toward her pension. Karen’s pension is on her mind as she is retiring after battling health issues. When she began, she took over Harry Gifford’s route. He did it for 30 years. She walked the center-of-town part of Mountain Road, Bridge Street and North Main Street. When she developed plantar fasciitis, she bid and won a route on North Street and Mapleton Avenue.
Contrary to the idea that a dog is bad news to mail carriers, she made friends with them, but she also knew who to avoid. Cody was a German Shepherd dog on her route who loved to play ball with her. When he became sick, his owners asked Karen to say goodbye to him. Unfortunately, he died before she could.
During her time on the route, streets and houses were added. A new post office was built. She’s seen babies grow up, go to college and get married. She’s seen dead bodies and witnessed accidents. She grieves when people grow old, sell their house and move away. She also grieves when open farmland and old homes are replaced by new houses. She amuses herself with an app called Gaia GPS, a navigation tool for hiking with a unique feature that indicates the location of houses and buildings in 1900, 1930 and 1960. On her route, she savored the moment. She literally stopped to smell the flowers, watched a hawk soar and enjoyed a beautiful day.
Karen grew up in Russell, Massachusetts, but she lived in Agawam for 20 years. Following her divorce, Karen moved back to Russell to help her dad. She is vice president of the Western Mass Hilltown Hikers, a member of the Russell Historical Commission, the Russell Cemetery Commission and is a representative for the Jacob’s Ladder Scenic Byway and the Hilltown Lions Club.
Karen was stranded in Agawam for a couple of days when the Halloween snowstorm struck in 2011. That night, she was helping with a supper at a church. It was busy. People who had lost their power came to the supper. Afterward, the storm was raging, so Karen spent the night with a friend. By chance, she had bought underwear and a nightgown that day. During the night, a tree and telephone pole fell down and blocked her car. But “neither rain nor snow” kept Karen from work. Her supervisor picked her up, and they sorted the mail by flashlight. She rarely missed work more than one day of work a year. However, one year she took seven weeks off after being in a car accident that left her in intensive care for three days and five weeks from a peritonsillar infection. She has also been out of work since October 2025, when she was diagnosed with cancer.
Her advice to new mail carriers is that the route will get easier. The worst days are when it pours or when it’s cold and icy. Those icy days she wore cleats clipped to her boots. Be aware. Care for the adults and children on your route. If something looks suspicious, report it. Once, she loaned her phone to a jogger who spied a suspicious vehicle. She shoveled snow for an elderly woman to get her car out of a drift. Remember, she said, the elderly may be somebody’s grandparent. Her advice to homeowners is to keep mailboxes clear, no ants, no bees, no mud.
She intends to travel her route to say goodbye to the people she knows. Her retirement plans include visiting the birthplace of Brother Thomas Bezanson in Nova Scotia. He was a Benedictine monk and a renowned ceramic artist whose work her in-laws collected. She wants to visit the Flight 93 crash site and other historical sites. She recently met two veterans who walked from Boston to Oregon. She is thinking about driving that route herself.