After many months of serving as Interim Postmasters for the Westport, Grayland and Tokeland post offices, Toni Steinhauer and Donna Alden were officially sworn-in to their respective South Beach positions on Sept. 28.

Post Office Operations Area 4 Manager, Charles Roberts, did the honors for both at the Westport Postal Station, followed by a cake and coffee celebration.

Steinhauer at Westport

Toni Steinhauer is in charge at Westport, where she has served as Interim Postmaster since late December of 2015, when then Postmaster Nancy (Ransom) Smith transferred to a position in Roslyn.

With the U.S. Postal Service for the past 11 years, Steinhauer previously served as Postmaster at Amanda Park for eight years, and before that, two years at Neilton.

She and her husband Dale are Amanda Park residents, where Toni was raised. Steinhauer says she really doesn’t mind her daily two-and-a-half-hour round trip commute to and from Westport because she welcomes the opportunity work at a larger station and advance her career.

Alden at Grayland/Tokeland

Donna Alden is in charge at both Grayland and Tokeland. She has served as Interim Postmaster for Grayland and Interim Administration Officer at Tokeland – a station no longer large enough for its own Postmaster – since late 2014, when (Ransom) Smith transferred to the Westport Postal Station.

Born and raised in Mossyrock, Alden has been with the U.S. Postal Service for 16 years. Alden started her career in PeEll in the fall of 2000 and remained there for 13 years, working her way up to Postmaster. She then spent a year as Postmaster at Adna, and another eight months at Galvin near Centralia prior to coming to the South Beach.

She and her husband Matthew reside in Tokeland. Donna says she was delighted to transfer here because she loves all things related being on the beach.