For nearly 23 years, Terrie Stevens has been making sure you get your daily dose of the Vicksburg Post.

Born in Vicksburg, Stevens, now 45, moved to Vidalia, La. with her family as a child and later graduated from Ferriday High School. She moved back to Vicksburg in 1989 and soon met her future husband Kendall, who had a paper route of his own.

The two married in 1990 and after having their first child she decided that a paper route would be a good way to make some extra money without losing time with her daughter.

“You could just load the kids up and go,” Stevens said. “It was a great thing.”

A few years later the couple had another child, and soon after she was back at work.

“My husband would take one and I’d take the other,” she said. “It kept us really close.”

Once the kids started school the family rides became fewer, but during holidays, breaks and weekends the kids would pile into the backseat, sometimes with pillows and blankets, and go along for the ride.

Kendall recently gave up his route to take over the family carpet care business, although he suggested she follow suit, Terrie said she’s not giving it up yet.

“You just enjoy it after a while,” she said. “You get to know your people, you get some peace and quiet.”

Terrie knows her route so well that when she takes a vacation she makes a detailed recording for her replacement to listen to while driving. Mailboxes, shutters and roofs are described extensively so there are no surprises.

In her backseat sits one of the tricks of the trade, a box of dog biscuits to occupy the overzealous dog or simply reward a friendly pup.

One day she’ll hang up the keys and sling her last paper, but not anytime soon.

“You never know, there might be grandkids strapped back there one day.”