Letters from Postmasters Across America

J. M. Long, Postmaster, Sacramento, California
Being postmaster in this country is indeed a rewarding experience - I truly love my profession-- and like most labors of love, the tasks can from time-to-time have their proverbial moments. And whenever those rare moments happen along, a renewed and refreshed awareness awareness and sense of fulfillment rushes forth, at least in me.

Your letter about your dad and his beloved four-o’clock plants represents one of those moments. I can think of no more endearing nor enduring tribute to your father’s memory than sharing the bloom of his four-o’clocks with others across the country. We feel honored that you asked us to share in this tribute, and we will plant all ten seeds in the landscape area in front of this main office next week-- for all to see when they visit here. I’m confident other postmasters will do the same-- and if it’s not too burdensome for you, I’d like you to ultimately let us know the names and cities of those who do.

Please accept our condolences for the loss of your beloved father, and our admiration for the manner in which you chose to keep his memory with you.

Michael J. Daley, Postmaster, Portland, Oregon
It is an honor and privilege to b a part of your project as a tribute to your father. The thought of sharing your father’s passion for these flowers with the nation is noteworthy and an inspiration to us all. It really is the little things that give life special meaning and a sense of joy. Your father’s four-o’clocks are one of those special things.

The idea that you have chosen the United States Postal Service to deliver this tribute to the country gives me great pride. That would entrust such a meaningful event to us makes me realize the post office still binds the country together not only through daily communication but in spirit as well.

Wee have chosen a flower bed in a prominent location here at the Main Post Office in Portland, Oregon to plant your father’s four-o’clocks. They will receive plenty of sunshine and will be visible for everyone to see that visits our office. Again, thank you for entrusting the Post Office with this most important tribute.

Leonard S. Gardner, Jr., Postmaster, Raleigh, North Carolina
I was very much moved by your letter in your desire to pay such tribute to your father. I think it is an excellent idea to recognize his love for these plants in such a way. What better way to share with your mother the celebration of his birthday with the confirmation that his plants are growing in every state.

I spent several hours last week obtaining information about four-o’clock plants and shared your letter with a number of people. I planted the ten seeds in my backyard.

I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to participate in this tribute to your father. Two friends with whom I shared your letter have asked me to send them seeds from the plants that I grow. In this way, they can also participate in this tribute.

My thoughts and prayers will be with you and your mother knowing that your father’s memory will be celebrated in such a way.

Charles E. Howe, Postmaster, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Thank you for your very touching letter and the gift of four-o’clock flower seeds that you requested be planted in our city. I am pleased that you selected Grand Rapids as one of the cities to be decorated with your father’s flowers.

We planted the four-o’clock seeds this past weekend, on Memorial Day, in memory of your father. I am certain he was a very special person, and one that loved his family dearly. Even though we had never met, his kindness and love were expressed through your words and thoughts of him. I know that his love of four-o’clocks was a reflection of his love for life and the beauty that surrounds us all on earth.

We have planted the four-o’clock seeds in two locations. Half were planted in a flower garden within the city of Grand Rapids. The other half were planted in Montague, in a sunny and warm location overlooking beautiful Lake Michigan. Your father’s flowers will be gently caressed by the sounds of flowing waves and the sight of glorious sunsets. Thank you for your letter and the seeds. I am happy that you entrusted them in my care.

Lee Salazar, Postmaster, Seattle, Washington
Thank you for your wonderful letter about your father’s love of four-o’clock plants. I shared your plans with my staff, and we were all deeply moved by your devotion to your father. Such strong ties and enduring loyalty are a blessing to both you and your father.

Two members of my staff, Joyce Johnson-Burke and LaDora Jones, are avid gardeners. They have responded to your request and volunteered to participate in your project; the seeds have been planting in their gardens. When the plants begin to bloom, I will write and tell you of their progress.

Please share this information with your mother. I am sure she already knows how fortunate she is in having you for a son. Your thoughtfulness and the love you demonstrate are of a rare kind.

Dwain West, Postmaster, Alexandria, Louisiana
You are to be commented for the love you are showing for your dad. We were touched by your efforts and the way you chose to continue your dad’s memory. I share your loss of a father and friend. I thank you for this opportunity to also remember my dad in a special way. He was a farmer and also loved the land.

We have distributed the four-o’clock seeds among ourselves and will not only plant them in Alexandria, but will send a few seeds to other parts of the country, as well. Each of my staff will respond to you with a note as I am doing, letting you know the location of their plantings.

Mine will be planted in Pine Prairie, Louisiana and I will send three seeds to Yonkers, New York. Two more seeds will travel this weekend to Kensley, Kansas to be planted in memory of your dada. Thank you for allowing me to contribute to this tribute for your father. God bless you.

Roger J. Nadeau, Postmaster, Lewiston, Maine
I am in receipt of your letter regarding the planting of seeds for four-o’clocks in memorium of your father. I have arranged to have the seeds planted in one of our flower beds in the municipal park. I am in hope that they will survive in tribute to your father. I offer you my condolences in the passing of your beloved father and sincerely hope your project is a success.

Sara A. Rice, Customer Relations Manager, Burlington, Vermont
We are in receipt of your letter requesting that your four-o’clock seeds be planted in the City of Burlington, Vermont in honor of your father. Be advised that the city will be placing the seeds in Battery Park. This is a beautiful spot that overlooks Lake Champlain and the Adirondak Mountains of New York State. In the late afternoon, the sunsets seen from this spot, located on a huge bluff, are spectacular. We are happy to be a part of this tribute to the memory of your father.

Beverly Burge, Customer Relations Coordinator, Salt Lake City, Utah
What a nice thing to do for your mom and dad. I gave your four-o’clock seeds to Kay Hill, who is a secretary to the Postmaster of Salt Lake City. Kay is always bringing flowers from her garden to our office, and I know she will take good care of the seeds.

My family had some lovely four-o’clocks at our last home. There was an old garden area that had died out, but after we moved in and started to tend it, the four-o’clocks started to grow. Our neighbor told us that a gentleman who had lived in the house for 40 years had originally planted them, and loved them.

It was nice to see them come back in his memory. And it will be nice to see these new four-o’clocks come up in your father’s memory.

Randall Sailor, Consume Affairs Associate, Minneapolis, Minnesota
I have planted the four-o’clock seeds you mailed to the Postmaster in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Due to our short growing season, I planted them in containers and will bring them inside this fall and place them under grow-lights. I appreciate the opportunity to plant something that is new to me. I’m looking forward to seeing them bloom. At this date, nine of the ten seeds you mailed have sprouted and are about 6 inches tall.

Virgil H. Davis, Customer Relations Coordinator, Knoxville, Tennessee
I will be most happy to plant the four-o’clock seeds in remembrance of your father. I certainly hope you achieve your goal of having these plants growing in every State this year. Knowing Postmasters as I do, I believe it will happen.

Jesse W. Davis, Acting Postmaster, Colorado Springs, Colorado
you that I personally will plant the four-o’clock seeds as you have requested. Good luck and best wishes from Colorado Springs, Colorado in your journey to accomplish such a wonderful tribute to your father!

Lawrence E. McClain, District Manager, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
We are in receipt of your correspondence requesting our assistance in compiling a tribute to your father’s memory. It will be out pleasure to take part in this endeavor; and you may be assured that by the time you present the album to your mother, the flowers which gave your father such enjoyment will be blooming and beautifying this section of Pennsylvania.

Please accept our condolences on the loss of your father, and we hope our actions will help grant you peace in the knowledge that a part of your father lives on and flourishes throughout the country. We appreciate being granted the opportunity to assist you in this matter.

Fina Morales, Customer Relations Coordinator, Austin, Texas
We received your letter with great pleasure for your love and devotion to your father. Thank you for including the Austin, Texas Post Office in your efforts toward helping bring your father’s love of growing the four-o’clock plant. They seeds have been planted on the grounds of the Main Post Office here in Austin, Texas.

May God be with you and your family for the many years to come and the many seasons of blooming four-o’clock plants.

Richard J. McKillop, Postmaster, Jacksonville, Florida
Reference is made to your correspondence requesting our cooperation in your project to have four-o’clocks planted around the country, as a memorial to your father.

Mr. Donahoe, the seeds were planted in front of the General Mail Center in Jacksonville, Florida. Although they have not yet begun to burst through the soil, you may be sure every care will be taken to nourish and protect them in the months to come. Four-o’clocks do well in this area, and we are expecting your father’s seeds to flourish.

We are honored you selected our city as a participant. It is gratifying to be included in such a heartwarming tribute to your father. Thank you for giving us this opportunity. We sincerely hope the results of your efforts will prove to be a source of joy to your family.

Darrel Morrison, Maintenance Manager, Evansville, Indiana
The Evansville, Indiana Post Office would like to join in your tribute to your father by planting four-o’clock seeds at our office.

John J. Dooley, Plant Manager, Des Moines, Iowa
Thank you for your recent letter with the enclosure of ten four-o’clock seeds that you wanted to share in memory of your father.

We have an employee who also has a love for plants and flowers and he has flowers and plants growing on the grounds of the Des Moines Processing and Distribution Center. When our employee read you request he was very pleased to plant the four-o’clocks as a tribute to your father.

John A. Montague, Postmaster, Rochester, New York
Thank you for your letter concerning your late father and his love of four-o’clock flowers. It is our pleasure to inform you that we have planted the seeds you sent us in front of our Main Post Office here in Rochester, New York. Thank you for allowing us to participate in your tribute to the memory of your father.

Mike Smith, Postmaster, Monroe, Louisiana
I received your letter concerning your request for our planting of the four-o’clock seeds. I am pleased to inform you that the seeds were planted in cups, have sprouted and been transferred to the flower bed in front of the Main Post Office in Monroe, Louisiana. This flower bed is right outside my office window and I look forward to enjoying the blooms in your father’s honor.

When the plants have matured and begin to bloom, we will take a color photograph and forward it to you. Thank you for considering our Post Office for participation in this touching memorial.

C.T. Hollingshead, Jonesboro, Arkansas
This letter is written in regard to your letter requesting that we plant four-o’clocks here at the Jonesboro, Arkansas Post Office in honor of your father. I have instructed our maintenance crew to plant the seeds at the north end of the building, which they have done. The plants should be growing and blooming within a few months. We are happy to have a small part in this endeavor to honor your father. We wish you and your mother well.

Al Provencio, Postmaster, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Thank you for your letter regarding our planting four-o’clock seeds in the Albuquerque area as a tribute to your father. I have shared some of the seeds with my staff and they have been planted. You may now add New Mexico to your list of states that have planted four-o’clocks in memory of your father. I am happy that we were able to assist you in this matter.

David C. Lapan, Central Falls, Rhode Island
I wanted to let you know that the four-o’clock seeds you sent to the Annex Post Office in Providence, Rhode Island have been planted in my garden in Central Falls, Rhode Island. The manager of the station asked if I would like to honor your request and I agreed. I planted the seeds about a week ago. Good luck in your endeavor.

Kevin A. White, Postmaster, Fargo, North Dakota
Thank you so much for your letter in regard to the planting of your father’s four-o’clock seeds. We planted the seeds at our Prairiewood Station Post Office facility in Fargo. I hope the seeds become flowering plants as a tribute to your beloved father. Let me also offer my condolences and sympathy on the passing of a person you and many others must have cared for very much.

Jeanne Bursch, Postmaster, Billings, Montana
This memo is to acknowledge receipt of your letter and request to plant the four-o’clock seeds enclosed in your letter. I am sure your mother will be pleasantly surprised and pleased with your efforts of seeds the United States with your father’s favorite plant, in loving memory of your father, regardless of the results acquired. If the Postmasters you have selected to send seeds to are anything like those I know personally, I think you’ll be amazed at the overwhelming success of this project.

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to be able to share part of your dad’s world with us in Montana. Your seeds will be planted on Memorial Day weekend. If you dad has impressed upon you to share this much of his life and love with others, he must have been quite a man and has been missed by many, but even more, I am sure his life touched many others, some you’ll never know.

Carols and Ghislaine Deis, Postmaster, Montpelier, Vermont
I am pleased to inform you that your father’s four-o’clock seeds are planted at our house in Williston, Vermont. Montpelier, the Capitol of Vermont and my place of employment, is 27 miles from our new home in Williston. It was both my wife and my decision to plant the seeds at our house so we could give the plants the special attention your dad would have given them. We are honored to be a part of your dedication in memory of your dad and his passion for these beautiful plants. We wish you success in your tribute to the memory of your beloved father.

Phillip F. DeCarolis, Postmaster, Trenton, New Jersey
I received your letter concerning the loss of your father and I was very touched by it. I will plant the seeds myself in my yard. I have a perfect, serene spot for them. Since I understand that the plants cannot tolerate harsh winters, I will dry the seeds over the winter so that your father’s plants will continue to grow year after year. I have also included a New Jersey State pin. I wish you much luck and happiness in your life.

Alfred R. Aloes, Postmaster, Topeka, Kansas
I am in receipt of your letter in which you enclosed flower seeds which you requested be planted in Kansas to commemorate the memory of your deceased father. I am pleased to report that the seeds have been planted in Kansas at the home of a dedicated postal employee. They will be enjoyed by her family knowing that they will bloom on your father’s birthday each year.

David W. Ward, Postmaster, Charleston, South Carolina
This is in response to your letter. I am in receipt of the four-o’clock seeds and my secretary, Charlene Ward, will be planting them in her flower garden. She has a genuine love for flowers and is very familiar with four-o’clocks. Her father too suffered a lengthy battle with cancer and she appreciates what you are doing in remembrance of your father.

Thank you for choosing Charleston and letting us help you with your project. I am sure Charlene will let you know how the four-o’clock are progressing.

Connie B. Reed, Customer Service, Boise, Idaho
Please accept our sincere sympathy in the death of your father and add our name to the many postal facilities which participated in your request. We are very happy to announce we have planted your father’s four-o’clock seeds at our Main Post Office in Boise, Idaho. We hope your mother is please at the tribute you have given your father.

Larry J. Dobson, Officer in Charge, Cleveland, Ohio
I am in receipt of your touching letter. Please accept my condolences for your loss. My secretary, Kathy, loves to plant flowers of all types in her yard and would be delighted to plant the four-o’clock seeds as a tribute to your father. She informed me that four-o’clocks have always been a favorite of her mother. Rest assured that these plants will be growing in Cleveland, Ohio this July and they will be enjoyed very much.

Barre Payne, Postmaster, Montgomery, Alabama
Please accept my sincere condolences upon the death of your father. The Main Post Office in Montgomery, Alabama, is a very large facility with landscaped shrubbery beds all around the building. The seeds from your father’s four-o’clock plants were planted in a bed right next to an employee entrance into the building. They will be in view for the enjoyment of all entering the building. We are pleased to be a part of your special project. Best wishes to you and your family.

Richard P. Casmier, Customer Relations Coordinator, Tacoma, Washington
This letter is to inform you that the four-o’clock seeds you sent to Tacoma will be planted in two locations in the State of Washington. Tonight when I go home, I will plant half of the four-o’clock seeds in my back yard in Sumner, Washington. Another manager in Tacoma will plant the remaining seeds in his yard in Puyallup, Washington.

We are happy to comply with your request. I’m sure your mother will be most surprised and pleased with your project. Thank you for selecting Tacoma as one of the offices for your project.

Dean DiJenno, Postmaster, Casper, Wyoming
I have received your letter and the enclosed packet of seeds which you requested to have planted in your father’s memory. I will be honored to personally plant the seeds in the front of my office for you. Your tribute to your father is heartwarming and I hope you will have many positive responses from other Postmasters.

Larry Wood, Postmaster, St. Louis, Missouri
This letter is to acknowledge receipt of your recent letter and the four-o’clock seeds that you sent. I will plant the seeds in the garden of my new home. I am pleased that I’m able to assist you with this tribute to the memory of your father.

Gwen Stevenson, Manager Customer Service, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
We want to thank you for including us in the tribute you are planning for your father. We are pleased to yell you that we are planting the four-o’clock seeds in front of the Main Post Office here in Baton Rouge. It is very heartening in these times to find the love and devotion that this act signifies is very much apart of your family.

Susan Miller, Secretary to the Postmaster, Omaha, Nebraska
This is to acknowledge receipt of your request in your letter. You will be pleased to know you late father’s four-o’clock seeds have been planted in Omaha, Nebraska. I live on a small acreage outside of Omaha, in the Ponca Hills above the Missouri River, and hopefully, the four-o’clock plants will thrive.

I was most happy to be able to honor your request, and I do hope you will be pleased to know your request reached Omaha, Nebraska. I don’t want to say “thanks” because “everyone know you do not thank others for flowers, but anyway ----.”

Sheila Jennings, Customer Relations Coordinator, Tulsa, Oklahoma
I was touched by the letter toy sent to the Postmaster and decided to plant the four-o’clock seeds at my home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. I planted them a couple of weeks ago and they are now about an inch tall. Broken Arrow is southeast of Tulsa approximately 15 miles. It is a beautiful tribute to the memory of your father and his love for these plants.

Kerry W. Kimura, Postmaster, Alaska
Just a note to let you know your seeds were given to two postal gardening hobbyists. They are happy to report that the seeds have sprouted and growing under nearly 20 hours of daylight from our Alaskan sunshine this time of year. I hope this helps your goal and father’s memory.

Gordon Deapen, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Your letter was received along with the four-o’clock seeds. The seeds were distributed and planted in Santa Fe, New Mexico as you requested. I would like to extend my condolence to you on your father who passed away and good luck with accomplishing your project.

Ray D. Stewart, Postmaster, Manchester, New Hampshire
Per your request, I have planted the four-o’clock seeds in my flower garden at our summer home in Whitefield, New Hampshire. You will find it on the map between Littleton and Lancaster very near the Vermont border. I hope that they will survive our very difficult winter weather.

Patti Klimek, Manager Customer Service, South Bend, Indiana
Thank you very much for the four-o’clock seeds. It just so happens that our Post Office is in the process of planting flowers and working on the appearance of our station. Your father’s flowers will be planted on our property, and with any luck, the beautiful four-o’clocks that your dad loved to admire will also enhance and beautify our post office grounds.

I have never grown four-o’clocks from seed, but hopefully our climate will allow them to grow and flower this summer. If we do meet with success, I will be sure to take a picture of them and forward that to you also.

B.E. Link, Officer in Charge, Orlando, Florida
This will acknowledge receipt of your letter and serve to advise you the four-o’clock seeds are in good hands. Our custodian at our Sand Lake Branch is going to germinate the seeds and plant them at our post office. Good luck in achieving your goal. We are happy to participate in this tribute to your father.

Sheldon M. Rhinehart, Postmaster, New Haven, Connecticut
This is in response to your recent letter and request. Please be advised that the seeds you sent from your father’s four-o’clock plants have been planted at the New Haven, Connecticut Post Office. We are interested to se what they will look like in bloom since we are unfamiliar with these plants. We are happy to be able to assist you with your inspiring tribute to the memory of your father.