Thursday, January 27, 1972
RETIRES
Glenn P. Tracy, of Boyer, ended his service with the Post Office Department December 31, 1971, after having been a contractor and part-time carrier for the past forty-six years.
His contracts gave mail service to Cheat Bridge for twenty-two years. For the first fifteen years of the contract, two trips were made daily during the first five years of the contract, the present black top road did not cross Cheat Mountain. The old dirt road was used that was known as the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, which was built before the Civil War.
It was not uncommon to find the temperature on Cheat Mountain twenty degree below zero and the snowdrifts hiding the fences. Sometimes the snow was too deep for the inadequate plow to make the trip up the mountain from Durbin, at which time Harvey Cromer, who now lives on Back Mountain, would carry the mail on horseback until the Randolph County scrapers could open the road by coming down the mountain….
Mr. Tracy talked about a major repair job on a mail car on Cheat Mountain, with the aid of two helpers, when the temperature was twenty degrees below zero and the snow was knee deep. A lot of wood was burned, since one man was busy keeping the fire burning.
The Boyer to Bartow contract was later tied in with the Cheat Mountain run. About this time the C & O train mail from the station to the Durbin Post Office was added to these runs.
The latest contract started at Arbovale, went by way of Howard Brown’s to the foot of Buffalo Mountain, by way of Howard Hevener’s, to Opie Bennett’s, then up Salisbury Run to Jim Nottingham’s, through Boyer, by way of Greenbrier River road back of Bartow to Durbin. The return trip was made by way of Brush Run to Rufus Elliott’s; then back to Route 28 by way of Hevener’s Acres to Arbovale.
Mr. Tracy carried the mail over this route during the summer months and on Saturdays.
The faithful carriers and substitutes who served on the routes while the contractor was in the teaching profession were Snowden Tracy, father of the contractor, and who is now deceased, and Baine Wooddell, who died of a heart attack on the Route. His truck was found buried in a snow drift. Rev. Paul Good, who was a substitute, was notified of Mr. Wooddell’s death. He went immediately to the mail truck, got the mail and finished the delivery for the day on schedule. Mr. Good served faithfully for the next seven years.
Mrs. Glenn Tracy, Herbert Wilfong and Crystal Mullenax were also substitute carriers. There was never an accident on the run.
The 1950 Chevrolet used on the Route during the later years, has a total of over 300,000 miles under the seat. It, too, will be retired and find a place with Mr. Tracy’s antique exhibit.
Ira Matheny and Sue Cromer are the only ex-postmasters living that started the contractor on his contract in 1925…
The many mail workers all over the country who work very hard in all kinds of weather to deliver the mail, can rightly be called the “unsung heroes…”
DEATHS
George Robinson Schoolcraft, 63, of Huntersville; born at Clendenen, a son of the late Edward Johnson and Sarah Elizabeth Pickering Schoolcraft. Burial in Beaver Creek Cemetery.
Mrs. Bertie Gum Hiner, of Arlington Virginia; born at Green Bank, a daughter of the late Robert N. and Barbara Ann Riley Gum. Burial in Oak Grove Cemetery in Hillsboro.
Arnold Herron Buzzard, 74, of Warm Springs, Virginia; born at Mountain Grove, a son of Robert A. Buzzard, Sr., and Margaret Elizabeth Keeley Buzzard. Burial in Warm Springs Cemetery.
Walter L. Neighbors, 61, of Marlinton; born at Seebert, a son of the late John and Mary Bancroft Neighbors. Burial in Mountain View Cemetery,
Sylvester Kirk, 77, of Huntersville, a native of Marion County, Kentucky, Burial in Mountain View Cemetery.
Mrs. Verdie Mae Stamper, 84, of Ravenna, Ohio, formerly of Dunmore; born in Wardensville, a daughter of the late James and Eila Hall McClure. Burial in Grand View Memorial Park, Ravenna, Ohio.
Mrs. Mary Jane Smith Gillespie, 58, of Caldwell; born at Hillsboro, a daughter of the late George and Etta Curry Smith. Burial in the Carrol Hill United Methodist Church cemetery.