DEBORAH CORRAO / L’Observateur / July 3, 1999

The lofty spires of the St. John Catholic Church stand guard over thewaves and waves of sugar cane like a sentinel, guarding the sleepy little town that serves as the parish seat of St. John the Baptist Parish.In stark contrast to the majestic architecture of the church, a nondescript one-story red brick building huddles not far down the River Road. Thebuilding houses the local branch of the Hibernia Bank and the Edgard Post Office.

While many of the thousand or so families who call Edgard home look to the parish priest for their spiritual needs, the woman who has presided for 17 years as postmaster in the tiny town cradled by the banks of the mighty Mississippi is the person they turn to conduct the business of everyday life.

This week many of the patrons of the Edgard Post Office have come to say good-bye to “Miss Emily” Waguespack as she retires from the job she has loved so well for so many years.

Her career with the United States Postal Service started in 1979 in nearby Vacherie, where she had grown up and married her husband Ronald.

When her six children were nearly grown Waguespack went to work there as a part-time clerk.

Three years later she was appointed postmaster at the Edgard Post Office and, since that time, has won several special achievement awards for her work as well as sharing her skills in training other postmasters.

“My job has been so satisfying,” says Waguespack, who is handing over the reins to Brenda Roussell, officer in charge until a new postmaster is appointed. “I have gotten to know everybody. I am leaving with greatsadness.”The sadness, though, is tempered by the anticipation of doing things she hasn’t had much time for in the last 20 years.

Things like spending time in the kitchen.

“I love to bake,” says Waguespack, whose husband has been doing lots of the cooking since his retirement five years ago.

The couple is also looking forward to having more time to visit their now- grown children and grandchildren, who are spread out in other states as well as in other communities in south Louisiana. The couple plan to spendEmily’s first official week of retirement in North Carolina.

Waguespack, who serves as a eucharistic minister and reader at the St.

Philip Catholic Church in Vacherie, is planning a trip to Rome not long after her return from the Atlantic coast.

Not much has changed during her tenure as postmaster, Waguespack says.

The post office still employs three people like it did when she first arrived on the job. The routine work of sorting mail and selling stampsgoes on much as it has despite the advent of new computer technology.

However, time marches on, as it will, and some of the old familiar faces on the other side of the counter are now gone.

“I’ve lost a lot of friends who have passed away,” says Waguespack. “It’slike losing family.”Betty Johnson, who works next door at the bank, visits Waguespack nearly every day.

“There’s so much I’ll miss about Miss Emily,” says Johnson. “Mostly I’llmiss her smile and personality and our conversations.”

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