Postal clerk calls it quits after 40 years

After 40 years of work, Steve Henning has earned a break.

Through four decades, Henning woke up at 2 a.m. to sort mail at the post office's Elgin facility on Randall Road. He seldom missed a day, accumulating about 325 unused sick days.

Henning, a 65-year-old Huntley resident, had his retirement party Friday morning at the Elgin facility, where he has worked as a clerk since 1967.

When he wasn't working, Henning and his wife, Pat, found ways to keep busy -- taking in more than 200 foster children over the years and adopting five, who are now grown.

"My wife wanted to take some just for a change," Henning said, "and we kept taking them."

The Hennings often took in teenagers, who sometimes have a harder time than younger children finding foster homes.

"Sometimes we had three or four teens in the house at a time," Henning said. "Have you ever tried to have four 16-year-olds in a house?"

If that's not enough, Henning did it all with no hearing and one leg. He lost his hearing to spinal meningitis when he was 2 years old and lost a leg in a 1968 motorcycle accident.

He walks with a prosthetic device and used hearing aids to detect vibration until 2001, when he received cochlear implants that allowed him to hear some sound.

In the preautomation post office of the 1960s, Henning succeeded in a demanding job despite his disabilities.

"Everyone here accepted my handicaps," Henning said. "I was always just like any normal person here."

"I never felt bad about what happened," Henning said. "I just accepted it and moved on."

He wanted to be a mail carrier at first, but the postal service of 1967 wouldn't let him, because of fears that he wouldn't be able to hear dogs and other hazards approaching.

But Henning soon settled into his work sorting mail in a post office warehouse.

"I like it here," Henning said. "I tried to be a supervisor here some years ago, but I found out that I really didn't like what that job was about. I just like my job better."

A favorite among his coworkers, Henning got a number of parting gifts, including an engraved watch and -- tongue in cheek -- a copy of the Postal Workers Union's new contract.

"He'll need something to read in all his free time," union local President Robert Feuser joked during Henning's retirement ceremony.

Henning already is planning a busy retirement. He plans to devote more time to his woodwork, fishing, golf and remote control airplanes.

He also plans to spend more time with his five grandchildren.

Feuser joked that Henning might miss his demanding work schedule. "He's going to be sad, not waking up at 2 a.m. every day for work."