A little-known secret in West Windsor is that since June 12 there has been a new postmaster in town. Suzanne Hutchinson of Hightstown was promoted after working with former Postmaster Virginia Culver, who retired. While school was out and people took vacations, the post office has seen many changes. During the summer, several tours through the facilities were held, as well as a patriotic celebration, customer appreciation day, and now there is a contest for Postmaster For a Day.
“I am working on offering a wider variety of products and services in the postal store for the convenience of our customers,” says Hutchinson. “One of our newest services is the acceptance of passport applications.”
Born in Princeton, Hutchinson was raised in Hightstown and graduated from Hightstown High School. Her father, Edgar Thomas, was the superintendent of Hightstown schools. Her mother died at the age of 29 and Hutchinson was raised by her stepmother, Clara Thomas, who was superintendent of schools in Seaside Heights.
The new postmaster attended Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and completed her undergraduate studies at Rutgers University, earning a bachelor’s degree in art, urban teacher education, and art history. She attended Trenton State College for postgraduate studies and earned her master’s in education from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Hutchinson began working with the postal service in 1979 and was promoted to associate training and development specialist in 1987. Before being promoted to diversity development specialist and associate supervisor program coordinator in 1998, she worked in personnel and labor relations. In 2001, she began detail assignment as officer in charge and began working with Culver in 2002.
She and her husband, Clark, have two children at home, a son, Jared, and a daughter, April as well as two dogs, a Welsh Corgi named Thalia and a Shipperke named Tas, and a calico cat named Purdee. The Hutchinson’s oldest son, Robert, is a postal supervisor at the Asbury Park Post Office. He and his wife, Dawn, live in Toms River with their four children.
An active member of Soldier Angels, a non-profit group that sends weekly letters of support and monthly care packages to members of the military deployed in Iraq, Hutchinson is also a volunteer moderator in the Soldier Angels chat room and is in contact with two adopted soldiers and three adopted sailors.
She is also active in the Navy Marine Relief Society, and as a volunteer knitter, she knits layettes for babies of parents serving in the military. Hutchinson also helps produce handmade items as a member of All Crafts for Charity.
Danika Baskar of West Windsor was named winner of the junior postmaster for a day. A fourth grade student at Millstone River School, her family moved from Edison in July. She is the daughter of Renuka and Laqshmanan Baskar. “In Edison we had an apartment, and we wanted a home for the children to grow up in and go to good schools,” says her mother.
“I’ve enjoyed the time I have spent at the Princeton Junction Post Office,” Hutchinson says. “I am looking forward to the post office becoming a more vital presence in this diverse and growing community. I would like to invite everyone to participate in the upcoming events and to come visit our postal store to see some of the new postal products being coordinated this fall including gift baskets of postal products.”
