Joyce Butterworth and Nick Williams discuss life beyond their jobs at the Granby Post Office
Do you ever wonder about the people you meet as you go about your daily errands? One place where you can be sure to be greeted with a genuine smile is the Granby Post Office, where Nick Williams and Joyce Butterworth are, quite frankly, delighted to see you.
A Sturbridge, Mass., native, Butterworth now lives in Westfield, Mass., with her 19-year-old son Alex, a college student, and her husband Josh Foran, a quality-control specialist.
“When Alex was a toddler, I was a single mom looking for a job with good benefits and a solid salary,” says Butterworth, who, after weighing her best options, decided to apply online for a job with the United States Postal Service. In 2006, the opening in Granby was the closest to her home in Southwick, Mass. “The bonus was that 14 years later, I didn’t lose my job because of Covid,” she says.
Being a fan of board games helps Butterworth stay connected to her family back in Sturbridge and to Alex’s father’s family in Westfield. “I didn’t marry Alex’s father, but we remain friends,” she says.
When she has time off from the job, Butterworth loves to travel. “I’ve been to many places, but most recently Josh and I traveled to the MoCCA Fest [Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art] in New York City, an Indie comics and graphic novel festival,” Butterworth explains. As a fan of Drawfee on YouTube, Butterworth attended the festival to meet her favorite artists. “I love to draw people, but oh my goodness, it’s very hard!” she says, adding that she brings her sketchbook with her whenever she travels.
For Alex’s high-school graduation, mother and son traveled to Ottawa, Canada, to see a Josh Ramsey concert and then drove to Ontario to see Niagara Falls from the Canadian side.
Last summer Butterworth and a friend took a road trip along the famed Route 66, from its starting point in Chicago south through Illinois and Missouri to Kansas. “My friend Sarah had a list of places to stop along the route,” she says, grabbing her camera and thumbing through photos. “Most of them were ‘the world’s largest’ golf club, rocking chair, swizzle spoon, mouse trap. It was kinda crazy and really fun!”
Asked what she likes best about her job at the post office, her anchor when she’s not traveling, Butterworth grins. “The people! I love helping the people,” she says.
And that’s exactly the answer that Nick Williams, who joined Butterworth behind the counter two years ago, gave. “This is my first customer-service job,” Williams says. “My friends didn’t think I’m serious enough, and I didn’t think I’d be good at it, but to my surprise, I am. When I have a random honest conversation with a stranger, I love that.”
Williams, who lives in Windsor, grew up in Granby, graduating from Granby Memorial High School in 2007, after which he followed his college-bound girlfriend to Tucson, Ariz. “I liked the scenery, hiking in the mountains, but I didn’t like the desert,” he says. “I found myself longing for New England.”
Ironically, while living in Tucson, Williams worked for the USPS as a mail handler, sorting mail and loading/unloading trucks. “I left Tucson because I didn’t like the job at all, and my girlfriend and I were growing apart,” he says. But Williams did not return to New England…yet.
When he called his brother, a sous chef in Austin, Texas, to say he was unhappy, Williams’ brother offered to get him a job if he moved to Austin. “The next day I resigned from the post office and drove 14 hours to Austin,” he says. “I lived for six months in a tent in my brother’s back yard.” Three days later, Williams had a restaurant job and began saving for an apartment.
“I thought I found my niche in Austin,” Williams says. “When Covid came, the restaurant didn’t fire us, but Austin is an expensive city, and the pay checks stopped.” A year earlier, Williams’ brother had bought a home in Monroe, Maine, so Williams drove to Monroe, where he worked in a bakery that exchanged training for someone with a personality and character that fit in with the others. “I love Maine. I had forgotten how much I missed the quiet, but then again, in Austin things stay open past 9 p.m.,” he says with a grin.
Although he spent six years as a baker, Williams doesn’t bake much now. “I’m an artist,” he says. “Any free time I have, you will find me making art. It’s my therapy.”
Williams spends hours online in museum archives, studying art and clipping pieces that intrigue him to create his signature digital pieces, uniquely creative and wildly captivating.
Like Butterworth, Williams does not display his art publicly, nor is it for sale. “I post it on my private Instagram for friends and family,” he says. “It’s what I do for my personal pleasure.”
Who knew?