THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 30, 1994 TAG: 9411300032
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E01 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
THE FEDERAL government is taking such a bashing these days that this seems as good a time as any to talk about Raymond Edmonds, the mail carrier at Norview Station.
All Raymond does is carry the mail . . . which is a lot like saying all Michael Jordan did was play baseball.
The folks on Raymond's 10-mile route through Norview call him ``Preacher.''
The name suits. At 62, he's a lean black gentleman with fine white hair like wavy piano wires. He has a handsome face with a high forehead. And his voice is even, composed and mellow.
There are some people you like at first glance. ``Preacher'' is one of them.
Nice, easy manner and a pair of graceful hands with long fingers. The long fingers come in handy when you are sorting mail.
I had never heard of Preacher until the other day when the post office announced that he was being given a certificate for having accumulated 3,200 hours of sick leave.
What that really means is that Preacher has been working for the post office for just a few months shy of 30 years and has missed only one day because of illness. Not bad.
``It was one day this year,'' Preacher said. ``I wasn't feeling too good so I went to the doctor for an examination. I'm fine now.''
I didn't ask Preacher how much money he makes. But whatever it is, taxpayers can feel pretty good about the sum. He's giving us our money's worth.
Preacher keeps an eye on the needy folks along his route, and when a holiday rolls around, he takes off his hat, puts some money in it for them and asks his postal service friends to do the same. He's been doing that for years. This Thanksgiving, he personally delivered meals to some folks who would have had nothing to bow their heads in thanks over without him.
``I feel like if you do something good for others, something good always comes back to you,'' Preacher said, putting a little spin on the golden rule. He's a trustee at New Mount Olive AME Church in Chesapeake and takes his religion seriously.
And he does the same with mail delivery.
The blizzard of 1980 was about the worst weather he's seen on a workday. ``You have to take it slow when there's snow and ice on the porch steps,'' he said. He got home about three hours late that evening.
Which isn't to say that Preacher can't move pretty quick when circumstances demand it. In 1991, a grandmother on his route came running toward him with an unconscious child in her arms. The woman was hysterical.
``You call 911 and let me work on the child,'' he told her. He carried the child inside the home in his arms and performed artificial respiration. His quick response is credited by the family with saving the child's life.
But delivering mail is pretty routine work from day to day unless someone gets your attention by leaving a a 6-foot snake in their mailbox.
``That's the only time something like that happened,'' he said. ``The family later apologized. They said it was a pet snake. They were going to the car, found it loose in the yard and just put it in the mailbox for safekeeping''
I guess what separates Preacher from the rest of us is that he goes the extra mile. A lot of the folks on his route are living on the edge, a paycheck, or social security check, away from disaster.
``Sometimes they tell me that if `I don't get my paycheck by 10 a.m. tomorrow, they are going to cut off my electricity,''' he said. ``I keep an eye out on that check. If I have to drive over and deliver the check myself, then I'll do it. I never know when something like that might happen to me or somebody in my family.''
It's not likely to happen to Preacher's family. He and his wife, Elenor, a retired schoolteacher, have scrimped to send all their children to college. The two sons have graduated, and their youngest, daughter Katrina, will graduate from Virginia Union this year.
When folks begin to trash big government, they need to pause sometimes and think about people like Raymond ``Preacher'' Edmonds who has given reality to the phrase ``public servant.''
Norfolk Postmaster G.L. Cheeks presented Preacher with a gold record last week, along with his certificate.
The record was engraved with a message: ``You can depend on me.''
They got that right. ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photo by BILL TIERNAN
Mail carrier Raymond Edmonds was honored for working nearly 30 years
without missing a day because of illness.
by CNB