During the early years Beeler Hill was at the end of the route and I can still remember that the side porch of Mama Linda Jewell's house. It was the coolest spot in town and always had a breeze when there was not one elsewhere. She always kept kids and on pretty days she and the children were out there and she had me a big glass of ice tea.
I got acquainted with most of them and remain friends to them. A child who had Mama Linda, Ms Francis or Jane Dublin, keeping them were more than prepared for school as everything they did for fun had a learning element. I doubt the kids ever forget them. I know I will not.
I remember a pair of route inspectors from Evansville came to inspect our routes once and as I was working a mass mailing with addresses, one of the inspectors stopped me, an informed me that I should deliver them as a third or fourth bundle as they were addressed. The other inspector came over and went through two bundles and informed the first one that they were truly addressed but not close to being in sequence and needed to be collated with the other flat mail. In a few minutes the second one placed his foot on a stool to adjust his laces and I noticed he was wearing corrective shoes that most carriers wore. I asked him if he ever carried a route and he said yes before he became inspector. He was from Paducah.
A few years later we got a new postmaster, Charles Long. Jerald Chandler brought him around to introduce him to everyone and when he got to Jim Brummell he said he knew us. Brummell said no, he did not think we had met. He then informed us that he was the inspector who had carried a city route and had inspected us before. Charles Long was a terrific postmaster. He went by the rules and was fair. Everyone knew their job and did it so he fit right in. The day he moved I was walking beside the First Baptist Church and a car passed and the driver waved. It was a scalding hot day and in a few minutes the young lady came back and stopped. I had no idea who she was but the cold coke she handed me was perfectly timed. I found out she was the new postmasters’ daughter, Charlotte. We were immediate friends.
I ran into Betty Johnson It Paducah recently. It had been ages since seeing her. I would see her almost daily on the route after she retired. I will never forget her kindness. One time Evansville PO decided I could carry more mail in less time with a Ford Pinto so they brought me one for a few years and then decided I could carry more in less time without it. They took it back while again increasing my workload.
The next day I met Betty across from where First Community Bank now sits. She asked where the car was and I told her they had taken it back. Boy was she irritated. When I returned to the Post Office Ed Latta told me that Betty came in and asked for him and proceeded to let him know she was not a happy camper for, in his words, “Taking the car away from him now that he is getting older and needs it.” Ed was touched and I was more touched. Not many friends will take a chance on alienating someone on behalf of a friend, especially when both are her friends.
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