Featured resident

Our mailman, Rob Vernon 307 N. Jefferson

Our intrepid, courteous and ever-cheerful mailman, Rob, aka Robville Cleo Vernon, as of March 1, 2005, had been on the job for “32 years, months, 17 days, 13 hours and 45 seconds.” He says what he likes best is “watching everybody grow old. I see the students struggle to get through school but do well and graduate. And another batch moves in. I love all my customers but I especially love my long-time customers.”

When asked how we could make his work easier or more pleasant, he says,“Only one item comes to mind. Please shovel all snow no matter how little there is off walks and steps.”

Of the funny things that have happened to him on the job, this one is a doozer. “I got my belt hoop on my shorts caught in a screen door handle and ripped my shorts off. I called my wife to bring out another pair. Thank Goodness I was wearing my underwear!”

He won’t tell us who gets the most mail on his route, citing the World War II motto: “Loose Lips Sink Ships.”

Finally, Rob tells us that another thing he likes best about his job is “counting the days ‘til 8-18-07. That’s when I retire. Let me quote the Late Great Martin Luther King: ‘Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty I am free at last.’”

Not surprisingly, given Rob’s wonderful attitude, when people apologize for the volume of their mail, or when he delivers a particularly heavy package, he replies, “That’s fine with me, thanks for the business! Need all I can get.”

One resident who had just moved with her husband to Bloomington and Green Acres reports that, when her husband then died suddenly, Rob told her to put all the junk mail addressed to him back in the mailbox, and he would stamp “Deceased” on each envelope and sent it back. She says that he will never know how much she appreciated that generous act during her time of loneliness and grief.Original post by Melody