Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Kneeland Post Office

Shame to hear the Kneeland Post Office might be closing. I had a little bit of experience there back in the late 70s. A gal I met, Becky, used to live next door to it and her mother was the postmaster. What a cute little place it was.

Becky and I only hanged around together for a month or two, but there were some memorable events. I recall her calling me to come rescue her and her daughters after a fairly heavy snowfall. I took my four wheel drive truck up there and brought them into town to do some grocery shopping.

As far as the post office went, I remember once when the mail contractor for all points southeast of the post office had his car break down. I think he was Becky's brother or uncle. He drove a long route to the outlying ranches delivering mail. Becky asked me if I could help him get his route done so we got in my truck and drove him miles and miles around to the outlying ranches to drop off the mail.

Neat job that guy had and I would think it would have been fun to run that post office. But all things must come to an end eventually. I can't imagine why the owner of the building would want to end the Post Office's lease. What else might he have in mind for the building?

5 Comments:

At 12:39 PM, Anonymous socodave said...

< What else might he have in mind for the building? >

Rumors at the Humboldt Herald suggest that Walmart - the sweat shop loving, union busting, main street crushing big box - has been looking for ways to infest the area. Just sayin'.

 
At 12:41 AM, Anonymous skippy said...

Nice story, Fred. On one hand, the Times-Standard reported:

"Postal Service spokesman James Wigdel said, 'The postal service has been around a long time but times have changed, we're not processing as much mail as we used to. There's not as many people visiting the office as there used to be.'”

But on the other, as you pointed out, the article continued by saying towards the end:

"While the postal service is considering the closure of thousands of post offices across the country, Wigdel said Kneeland's case is related to the office's lease, which ends on Oct. 3. He said the owner does not want to renew the lease. Attempts to reach the owner were unsuccessful."

Hmmm... the plot thickens.
And where is Becky now?

"There are eight million stories in the Naked City. This has been one of them."

 
At 5:38 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

I believe Becky lives over around Weed or Mount Shasta with much of the rest of her family. We're actually Friends on Facebook but her Facebook page doesn't say exactly where she lives.

I posted a link to the Times- Standard article on her FB page but she made no comment.

 
At 8:32 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

My father, Norman Jenkins, was the postmaster at the Kneeland Post Office. He sub'd for other post offices in Sacramento and such, but being Postmaster of Kneeland was his dream!

 
At 1:42 PM, Blogger Quinn Peters said...

My aunt Becky died a couple of years ago. She was in poor health for some time.

Quinn

 

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