Casey Killingsworth, July 12, 2015

Years ago — maybe thirty!! — we had a Singing Postmaster.  Perhaps you remember Casey Killingsworth?  He didn’t sing on the job, necessarily, but for years he and his brothers (and later his kids) were the featured musicians at one of our Vespers services each summer.

Right now we have a Painting Postmaster and, lest the USPS go postal at the news, I’ll just say that, in our little post office. there are a few quiet moments now and then when Tammy Foes can upgrade the lobby a bit.  Well, at least the door into the lobby!

Tammy and Her Magic Paintbrush!

At present, she’s in the middle of an idyllic scene that involves a lighthouse, a body of placid water (not our ocean, for sure) and a double-ender rowboat that is just sitting calmly near the shore.  “I haven’t had time to paint an anchor, yet!” Tammy laughs.  Until that moment it never occurred to me that the boat needed one.

Upon reflection, though, I like it that our new Postmaster is a stickler for details.  Whether it’s an anchor for an imaginary boat or the amount of postage needed on a package, it seems that paying attention to those little items makes all the difference.

Tammy’s Painting

And, of course, it doesn’t hurt a bit that Tammy greets each patron by name (and their dogs, too!), can pick up a conversation where it left off a few days back and worries if she hasn’t seen you a for a few days.  In a village the size of Oysterville — even with postal patrons from Surfside thrown in — our Postmaster is our Chamber of Commerce, our Visitor’s Bureau, and our Dear Abby all at the same time.

And she paints pretty pictures, too!