Rarely do you meet someone who’s born and raised and lived and worked in the same neighborhood for more than four decades, but in Serra Mesa, if you ask about Dolly, just about everyone knows who she is.
“It’s been the pleasure of my lifetime to be able to work here with all of you. I’ve had tons of fun and moved tons of mail,” said Dolores “Dolly” McPherson, who’s retiring from the USPS post office in Serra Mesa after working there for 40 years.
McPherson has made a name for herself not only in the Serra Mesa neighborhood but also at the post office.
“It feels really good, but a little awkward thinking that I’m not going to be getting up every morning at five and getting ready to come into work to case and carry the route,” McPherson said.
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At the Serra Mesa Post Office, she earned the nickname, Dolly.
“They call me Dolly. [It] stuck and I’ve been Dolly ever since.,” she said.
Dolly is truly a hometown woman who was born and raised in Serra Mesa.
In Your Neighborhood
“Grew up on Murray Ridge, went to school and ended up working here,” she said. “For the post office 40 years, at this office, I’ve been here for 38 years.”
Dolly started in University City, but a different route opened a few years later.
“It just so happened to be the neighborhood I grew up in,” she said.
Dolly was delivering to people she’d known since she was little. And in a typical week on her residential route, she walked an average of 18 miles a day.
“I’ve gone through a lot of shoes,” she said.
But after 40 years, she’s finally ready to retire officially.
“I do take daily walks and daily bike rides and they generally come past here, so that’s why they joke when they come in. Sometimes they take bets ‘Is she coming back today? what are the odds?’”
To Dolly, Serra Mesa is more than just a neighborhood. You might say it’s her neighborhood.
Back in the ’60s, it was broken up into several parcels, but the council decided to consolidate and give the zip code, 92123, one name. About 450 people entered a contest to name the new area and someone very close to Dolly won.
“My mother. Frances Ann Dowling. Her name was chosen and the name she chose was Serra Mesa,” she said.
Dolly said that’s why creating a life there, even after retirement, has a bigger meaning.
“It’s been the best experience of my life. I’m truly going to miss all of you,” she said.
As for what’s next for Dolly, she said she’s not going far. Just down the street from where she grew up.
