Herb Benham: Mail carrier signs, seals and delivers 50 years of service
| Monday, Apr 20 2009 03:22 PM
Last Updated Monday, Apr 20 2009 04:22 PM
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Casey Christie / The Californian Retiring post office letter carrier, Paul Shaw tries on one of his first hats he wore close to 50 years ago while delivering mail in Oildale. He said this particular hat was a little hot in the summer time because it lacked holes for ventilation.
Casey Christie / The Californian Retiring postal worker Paul Shaw holds up a worn out U.S. Mail baseball type hat he wore out after wearing on his Oildale route for years. He is retiring after close to 50 years on the route.
Casey Christie / The Californian Retiring post office letter carrier, Paul Shaw still has his original jacket he wore while making the rounds on his postal route. He is retiring after nearly 50 years on the job.
Casey Christie / The Californian Paul Shaw, is retiring from the post office as a letter carrier after 50 years on the job. He is holding some of his original attire he wore including hat and jacket.
Paul Shaw's been bitten 10 times. Ten times in almost 50 years. That seems like a lot, even for a letter carrier.
If you're a civilian, one bite may be too many, but for the old guard like Shaw (retiring in May after almost 50 years with the post office), 10 could have been 20 and still the mail would have been delivered -- usually on the same day --and probably without a subsequent lawsuit against the dog's owners.
Fifty years. Who does that anymore? Fifty years with one company while most of us are just trying to make it through the week until they change the name on our building.
The job inspires respect. What's more basic than bringing the mail? Mail delivery constitutes one of life's most reliable routines.
In the days of yore, the arrival of the mail was something to look forward to. An event for which to dress up. For Shaw's older patrons, mail was a special occasion,
"I'd see them peeking out from behind their curtains," Shaw said. "They'd greet me at the door and, on hot days, put out a glass and a pitcher of lemonade."
On the days that the PG&E bill arrived, some of Shaw's patrons would take the bill and by the time he had turned around and was delivering on the other side of the street, they'd have the envelope with a check in it, ready for Shaw to take with him.
"It must have been going through the Depression or hard times and having their power turned off," Shaw said. "They were afraid that that might happen again."
Shaw, now 68, was built to be a letter carrier. He's 6 feet 2 inches tall, 205 pounds, strong, agile has big hands and large feet. When he started on June 27,1959, he wore a size 12 D. Now, Shaw is a 13 triple wide. If you had walked as much as he had -- 30,000 miles -- your feet would have spread out too.
Many of those miles were in Oildale. Don't expect him to say anything bad about 93308. He won't. He delivered mail in Oildale before there were drugs, tattoos and a shortage of shoes.
"Early on, I fell in love with the people in Oildale," Shaw said.
One of his favorite customers was a 94-year-old woman on the 700 block of Decatur who had come to Kern County in a covered wagon. Another woman traveled on the orphan train. In Oildale, Shaw found good people who worked hard, complained little and appreciated getting their mail.
The people made it interesting, the dogs, exciting.
"I remember a letter carrier named Harry Kidwell," said Shaw. "This pit bull had knocked him down and was chewing on him. An older lady with a broom helped him fight off the dog. He went back to the station, took some first aid and then finished his route.
"Fighting a pit bull was nothing compared to what I went through in World War II," Kidwell told him.
The worst kind of dogs are not pit bulls, Shaw said. Watch out for Queensland Heelers. They are quiet and sneaky.
The only thing tougher than the dogs were the letter carriers. Dale Barker carried a tree limb under his seat for overeager clients and enthusiastic dogs.
Another mailman, a veteran of the Bataan Death March, ran the heater in his car when it was 108 outside so the engine wouldn't overheat.
Shaw liked being a letter carrier for simple reasons: being in the sunshine, meeting people and checking up on the oldsters.
"There was something that always seemed odd to me," Shaw said. "You'd have couples where one person was infirm or in a wheelchair and the other was in good health. The one in good health would have a heart attack or a stroke and the one in the wheelchair would live another 15 years."
There is a moral to that story, but this probably isn't the time to go into it.
Before Shaw was diagnosed with prostate cancer almost a year ago, he rarely missed a day. He won the Million Mile Safety Award, having never been in an auto accident during his tenure.
Shaw has recovered from prostate cancer, but it's time to put away his sunblock and spend more time with Geraldine, his wife of 38 years.
But Shaw will still be in the delivery business. He's the head usher at Canyon Hills Assembly of God. Once he delivered mail, now it's people.
