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Long-time Parkrose mail carrier retires

TIM CURRAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

Dave Potter, who carried mail in Parkrose for over 30 years before retiring last month, organizes his route for the last time.
Coutesy Dave Potter
Dave and Terrie Potter - she is a mail carrier at the Parkrose post office too - at his retirement party held in June at the Refectory Restaurant in east Portland.
Mid-county Memophoto/Tim Curran
When mail carrier Dave Potter retired after 34 years last month, not only did the U.S. Postal Service lose a cherished employee, but Mid-county lost a bit of its heart and soul. Replaceable at work, but the positive, affirming affect he had on the lives of co-workers and customers with his trademark good humor and humility over decades is lost forever.

And, with all the changes at the Postal Service, it is hard to imagine anyone ever filling his role as well.

Potter and hundreds like him in dozens of different occupations - through the simple act of going to work every day for years doing their jobs efficiently, professionally and humbly - make our little slice of heaven work so well.

It is hard to image Potter doing anything except delivering mail in Mid-county. After all, between 1977 and 2011, Potter rarely missed a day of work. It is that commitment and dedication, that willingness to work through pain and adversity that perhaps best defines Potter.

Potter's huge family of postal co-workers, his friends and more than a few customers - attended his official retirement party in June at the Refectory Restaurant to pay their respects and celebrate the end of his government service.

Colleagues in attendance were universal in praising him, “What a great guy;” “Best person I've ever worked with;” “We're going to miss him…a lot;” and “I love that man,” just a sample of the comments made when asked about him.

One of his business customers in Menlo Park Plaza, part of the last route he worked for twelve years, called him the sexiest mailman in the city and said his customer service skills were impeccable and everyone in Menlo Park Plaza loves him madly.

His co-workers miss him too. Karen Long, supervisor of carriers at the Parkrose station said, “He was always dependable, always here. We miss him a lot. He was great carrier and a nice, kind person. He got along with every one.”

Born and raised in Portland, Potter attended Madison High School, graduating in 1967 at the height of the Vietnam War. Thinking he would have more control over his military future if he enlisted instead of waiting for the inevitable draft notice, Potter entered the Army. However, it did not work out that way. Despite graduating at the top of his class - trained as an armorer to service and repair all types of firearms-he was shipped off to the Central Highland region of Vietnam to repair weapons in the field. Surviving the year in Vietnam, Potter finished his three-year military career in Germany.

Returning to Portland after his three years in the service, Potter found work in the shipping and receiving department of a hat company in downtown. Part of his job entailed frequent trips to the main post office where he got to know postal employees that encouraged him to apply; he did and the rest is now Postal Service history.

Making his decision to retire easier was the way his job changed over the years. “I enjoyed the job up to the day I retired,” Potter said. “But the job changed. It's not a customer-related oriented service anymore; not the old boy carrier anymore, it's all micro-managed now. We were timed between streets and blocks of our route; it got to be too much of a hassle for me. It's not a personalized service anymore. It's all politics and timing.”

Despite the slight drop in first and second-class mail volume, there has been a corresponding increase in third and fourth-class mail and parcels. With the recent cutbacks and hiring freeze, carriers are worked long hours. They do not just deliver to their six or seven hundred customers and go home; most days, soon as they finish, they are turned back around with sections of another route for an additional hour or two; the reason you see mail carriers out so late these days.

If you are a people person and sentimental like Potter, contact is everything; “The hard part of retirement has been it's been a real change for me socially,” he said. He worked with a group of about 50 people in the morning putting his route together. Then going out and delivering mail to six or seven hundred addresses. Interacting with the same people five days a week, year after year, he formed bonds with them. Potter carries vivid memories of his deceased customers and co-workers with him like bright postcards he has delivered to himself. “I think about those people that were part of my life, they were really generous to me, very nice. I miss 'em. I looked forward to seeing them every day and when they were gone, I really miss 'em.”

Potter knows about pathos. His first wife had premature quintuplets, with only two surviving to adulthood, completely disabled. They live in Maywood Park across the street from their mother.

Also a carrier at the Parkrose station, Potter met second wife Terrie on the job. She is hoping to join her husband in retirement in the next year or two.

Potter loves woodworking and working with his hands. He has remodeled his kitchen twice and is currently helping widowed neighbors with their home projects in his Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood. He is looking forward to when Terrie retires so they can travel. For now, while Potter is going through an adjustment period getting used to not being around so many of the people he cares about and the job he loved, his customers and co-workers are adjusting to life without the little piece of heart and soul he delivered along with the mail ever day.
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