Saying goodbye
Ontario mail
carrier retiring after 24 years

By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Monday, March 24, 2008 10:19 AM PDT

Perry Tolman sits inside the van he uses to deliver the mail, near the end of his route on Northwest Fourth Street. Tolman will retire April 1 after 24 years of delivering mail in Ontario.

ONTARIO  - A familiar face will soon be missing from northwest Ontario — between Verde Drive and Northwest Fourth Street — when longtime postman Perry Tolman retires after 24 years as a mail carrier in Ontario.

As of today, Tolman has one more week on the U.S. Postal Service rolls.

Tolman, who has 33 years of total service, has held down the same route for the last 22 years, but said he has not found it boring.

“Every day is a little different,” he said. “People move in and people move out. You pretty well know your people.”

His territory was  bounded by West Idaho Avenue, on the south, Verde Drive on the West, Northwest Fourth Street on the east and he went as far north as Beck Kiwanis Park.

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Weather was one of the challenges he faced, he said.

So were dogs.

“I was bit over 22 times,” he said.

Tolman conceded he has experienced a number of changes during his tenure as a postman.

“We used to walk more. Now we have more mounted stops,” he said.

Another change he said revolves around mailboxes. In the past, he said, most mailboxes were mounted on the porch or some other place near the house. Now more homeowners have converted to curbside service, he said.

 The 971 possible stops during the day takes Tolman about six hours of street time to cover, after leaving the Ontario Post Office at 9:30 a.m.  It takes about two hours to prepare for the route, getting the letters, parcels and other mail he will deliver sorted and put in order.

“I enjoy being a carrier,” Tolman said. He did not want any other position in the Post Office, he said.

“It got me outdoors.  Most people have been good to me,” he said.

Tolman, 60, began his career in Rock Springs, Wyo. A Vale native, Tolman said he was looking for an opening back in the Treasure Valley, and knew that Ontario would be the closest he could get.

“When we started having children, I wanted to get them closer to grandparents.”  

Tolman has had his difficulties. Tolman contracted kidney disease and had his kidneys removed 61⁄2 years ago, and his sister, Janice Belnap donated a kidney.

“I was off 51⁄2 months, with the two surgeries,” he said.  Now, though, Tolman is looking into the future and retirement.

“I am looking forward to it,” Tolman said about his retirement.