Iowa’s oldest postal worker celebrates a birthday

A birthday bash is underway this afternoon for the oldest postal employee in Iowa, who’s also among the oldest in America. Wayne Lenz, a postal clerk in Des Moines, will turn 85 on Saturday. His boss, Steve Wenzel, manager of the Des Moines Processing and Distribution Center, is hosting today’s surprise party.Lenz is being presented with a special commemorative postmark and a three-foot by two-foot greeting card signed by more than 300 co-workers. Lenz’s 55 years of service places him at number-25 on the Postal Service’s nationwide seniority list — out of more than 750-thousand employees. He’s also the oldest out of the ten-thousand postal workers in Iowa. Wenzel says Lenz is highly dedicated to his job.Wenzel says Lenz has only taken one sick day in the past 35 years. Lenz starting work with the former Post Office Department on August 22, 1945. He spent years on Iowa’s railways as a member of the old Railroad Post Office and is likely the only member of the Railroad Post Office fraternity still working for the Postal Service.