[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 94 (Friday, June 9, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1209-E1210]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


          FROM E-MAIL TO V-MAIL, POSTAL CLERK HAS SEEN IT ALL

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                          HON. JOHN M. McHUGH

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 8, 1995
  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I want to pay tribute to a dedicated 
individual from my district who has provided her community with quality 
mail service for 54 years. Even more remarkable is that she plans to 
continue to do so. Patricia M. Drake, a 71-years-old grandmother of 
four, began work as a mail clerk in 1941, when mail was sorted one 
letter at a time. Although technology now enables mail to be processed 
en mass, it is the dedication and reliability of individual Postal 
Service employees such as Pat Drake that provides this Nation with the 
most productive, efficient, and cost-effective mail system in the 
world.
  When Pat was hired, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was President and a war 
was raging in Europe. Pat initially worked weekends and summers, 
sorting V-mail that came in by train to help people communicate. Now, 
more than 54 years later, Pat is still working weekends 
[[Page E1210]] and evenings sorting mail to help people communicate. 
And she would not have it any other way. According to her colleagues, 
Pat is well-loved and respected because she personifies all that is 
good about the Postal Service. Her sound integrity and reliability are 
an asset to the two offices in which she works.
  While the methods have changed, the basic mission of both Pat and the 
Postal Service remains as important today as it has ever been, and 
perhaps even more so in this fast-paced information age. With data 
whirling by us via e-mail, fax, interactive cable, and other, yet-to-be 
developed supertechnologies, we must not lose sight of the basic 
service that Pat renders, which is so important to our continued well-
being. Pat's contribution, along with that of others, enables 125 
million American households to receive prompt, universal mail service, 
6 days a week, at just about the lowest rates in the industrial world.
  Pat's career, and the honors that have come her way recently, have 
been recounted in the following story written by Tracy Valentine in the 
Watertown Daily Times. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to pay tribute to 
Pat Drake for giving 54 years of dedicated service to the communities 
of Theresa and Watertown, NY, and to wish her continued success in all 
her endeavors.
            [From the Watertown Daily Times, Apr. 30, 1995]
  Theresa Mail Clerk Still Enjoys Post Position After 54 Years on Job

                          (By Tracy Valentine)

       Theresa.--Patricia M. Drake started working as a postal 
     clerk in 1941, when the price of a stamp was 3 cents and zip 
     codes didn't yet exist.
       Fifty-four years later, Mrs. Drake is still on the job and 
     seems to be fazed very little by all the dramatic changes 
     she's witnessed over the decades.
       ``A lot has changed, but that's what you've got to 
     expect,'' said Mrs. Drake, who lives on Drake Road.
       But she admits that when she started working at the Theresa 
     post office at age 17, she never expected to remain on the 
     job for more than a half-century.
       ``I never thought I'd be here this long,'' said Mrs. Drake, 
     who at 71 is a grandmother with no immediate plans to retire 
     from her part-time job.
       She was honored Tuesday for her decades of service to the 
     U.S. Postal Service during a luncheon at the Riveredge Resort 
     at Alexandria Bay.
       Her service also represents the continuation of a
        family legacy. Mrs. Drake's mother, Marie Proctor, was 
     Theresa's postmaster from 1943 to 1963.
       Mrs. Drake started her job during wartime and often sorted 
     the daily shipments of V-Mail, correspondences from World War 
     II soldiers to their families.
       The much-anticipated blue envelopes contained copies of 
     troops' letters that were made by the U.S. government, which 
     often kept the originals.
       ``We would call the families or drop the letters off on our 
     way home because we knew they were anxious to hear from their 
     sons overseas,'' recalls Mr. Drake.
       Today, machinery is more widely used to sort mail and 
     cancel postage, but Mrs. Drake remembers a time when all mail 
     was hand sorted. It arrived in Theresa every morning by train 
     and was delivered to townspeople, most of whom she knew.
       Today, machines have taken over a lot of the work, trucks 
     have replaced the trains, and she said it is harder and 
     harder to remember all the new faces in town.
       ``Fort Drum has changed things. There's lots of new people 
     around,'' said Mrs. Drake, who also worked as a part-time 
     evening clerk at the Watertown post office for nearly 20 
     years.
       More people mean more mail, and Mrs. Drake estimates the 
     amount of mail handled at the Theresa post office has more 
     than tripled since the 1940s.
       However, the mail isn't quite as exotic as it used to be.
       Mrs. Drake recalled an incident in the 1950s when a 
     shipment of chickens arrived for one of two local hatcheries 
     and was refused.
       ``We got stuck with them and they were squawking and 
     yakking. They were driving us crazy,'' said Mrs. Drake, who 
     added that postal workers ended up selling the chickens for 
     $1 each.
       At the Theresa post office she has worked with five 
     officers in charge and five postmasters.
       She said the best among them is current Theresa Postmaster 
     Richard R. Kingsbury, who has managed the town's post office 
     for eight years.
       ``He's tops,'' Mrs. Drake said of her boss. ``He's easy-
     going and he knows his stuff. He's very good.''
       Mr. Kingsbury returned the compliment and gave Mrs. Drake 
     high marks for dedication and her strict work ethic.
       ``She never complains, she's always there when you need 
     her, and there could be mail up to the ceiling and she'd just 
     get right in there and do it,'' said Mr. Kingsbury, who has 
     nicknamed her ``machine-gun Drake'' for her swiftness in 
     sorting the morning mail.
       ``She doesn't take much time off, either,'' added Mr. 
     Kingsbury. ``Probably 50 out of 52 Saturdays she's here.''
       Watertown Postmaster Warren Johnson also considers Mrs. 
     Drake a rare find.
       ``She's always on time, and she works from the time she 
     comes into the building until the time she leaves,'' said Mr. 
     Johnson, ``She's a person with a 54-year career and she's 
     done every one really outstanding.''
     

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