Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night . . .

Irvin David Creech Age 55

I visited the Wilson County Hardware store on the town square in Floresville a couple of years ago to pick up an item for a small plumbing repair. I like to patronize these local businesses when I can. A tall, lean man in his 90s ran the store. It’s one of those places where you can’t find anything on your own, but the proprietor can take you straight to it. I’m sure much of his stock had sat in those bins for decades.

When I handed him my debit card he squinted at it, holding it at arm’s length. “Creech,” he said. “Any relation to Lillie Creech?”

 “She was my grandmother,” I told him.

 

“Well, I knew your grandfather. He was our mail carrier out in the country near Falls City when I was a boy. You could set your watch by him. We used to go out every day and wait by the mailbox on the road for him to show up.  When we had hard rains, the roads would get torn up by the oil trucks and he couldn’t get his Model A down those roads for several days. I remember once that my mother had ordered some baby chicks by mail. Your grandfather could not deliver them, so he got a starter kit at the feed store and took care of them himself until the roads dried up.”

 

You don’t get stories like that checking out at Wal-Mart.

 

Irvin David Creech, my grandfather was a rural mail carrier in the Falls City, Texas area for forty years and one month. He carried his first load of mail on 3 June 1924 and his last on 30 June 1964. That postal job took him and his extended family through the Great Depression. The photo was taken November 7, 1949, on his fifty-fifth birthday. He died 49 years ago next week. 

 

I recall as a kid that when we visited, he’d usually be gone from the house before I woke up and I’d wait for him to return from his route around noon, in his blue Chevy pickup.

 

When Irvin retired, his postmaster sent a request for a commendation letter to the Postmaster General that included this comment:

 

Carrier had worked a number of times when others would have stayed home in bed, because of high fever and being sick. Having many miles of dirt road, required driving in deep mud and making deliveries on foot, but he always delivered the mail to his patrons regardless of the weather condition. One time this carrier went on foot a mile to deliver a package, which he thought was medicine and later found out different, but did not mind –– making this trip in mud and ice.

 

On 30 November 1974, three years after Irvin’s death, Falls City opened and dedicated a new post office. The local high school band performed, and the Falls City postmaster presided at the ceremonies. A parish priest led in prayer. A member of the county historical society recited the story of the mail service in the area that had begun in 1860. Included in his remark was this word about Irvin:

 

In the year 1924, because of a growing need for service between Falls City and Poth and west of Poth to Three Oaks, Deweesville and the Butler school community, Rural Route No. 2 was established. The first appointment for the carrier for rural route 2 was Irvin Creech. He served continuously until his retirement in 1964, with a total of 40 years. (From the Karnes City Citation, December 12, 1974, p. 1-A)

 

The street in front of the new post office was renamed “Irvin Street.”

 

With all the talk about the U. S. Postal Service these days, I was reminded of my grandfather’s service. I’m also reminded that thousands of others work as faithfully on our behalf for service we regularly take for granted.

Irvin's Mail Satchel