Reidel Wilkerson, at your service rain, sleet or shine
By MARCELLA HERNDON Staff writer

A FAMILIAR FACE- Diboll letter carrier Reidel Wilkerson has been delivering mail to the Diboll community since 1980. Wilkerson has become an area friendly face with Diboll citizens and animals.

While most people spent the day after Christmas shopping at half price sales and enjoying family, civil service agents like U.S. Letter Carriers weathered frigid temperatures and storm down pours.

Letter carriers can be compared to hometown combat street soldiers. They, like U.S. soldiers, receive training on how to avoid and react to terrorist attacks, as most attacks on letter carriers are made through the mail by way of bombs and anthrax.

They've had to learn to fend off Charlie, Mrs. Schumacher's miniature poodle and Queeny, Mrs. Schumacher's lazy eyed cat, while safely delivering the mail to its proper owner.

Letter carriers are an essential part of society. Without them most businesses would be at a stand still and grandma's cookies would spoil at the post office. Through the beginning years, the U.S. Postal service delivered mail by horseback, stagecoach, steamboat and railroad. Much has changed since the start of the U.S. Postal Ser- vice in the 1700s. Airplanes have now become the fastest route for mail but it is the carriers that residents grow to know and love.

Diboll letter carrier Reidel Wilkerson has been delivering mail to the Diboll community since 1980.

Wilkerson and wife Wanda, have two children, daughter, Rashael and son, Gentry, and three granddaughters, Abigail, Sarah and Elizabeth. Wilkerson originally entered into a program in High School that allowed him the privilege of being appointed to a 90-day position with the post office. After his 90-day appointment that summer, Wilkerson, at the age of 19, decided to become a letter carrier.

In 1974 Wilkerson made the first step toward being a letter carrier by passing a civil service test. Shortly after that he began his career in Lufkin, before transferring six years later to Diboll. Wilkerson contends that he's never had to fend off any dogs or wild lazy eyed cats but believes that the animals on his route have gotten familiar with him over the years.

He also believes that due to Diboll's leash law, most vicious animals are chained or safely tied on a leash. Over the past 34 years of service, Wilkerson has seen several changes to the postal service with several of those changes involving carrier safety.

He has been trained regarding package safety and , due to stiffer laws regarding postal robberies, Wilkerson feels safer knowing that offenses on postal workers carry federal penalties. Other changes Wilkerson has seen over the years would be the increase in the amount of mail to deliver while the time frame in which to deliver it has remained the same.

"More citizens are communicating through mail now days, which is a good thing. It shows that they trust the U.S. Postal Service," said Wilkerson.

With over three decades of being a letter carrier, Wilkerson is looking forward to retiring, with twenty months left to go. "I will miss the people of Diboll so much. However I am really looking forward to spending more time with my family and especially my grand kids," said Wilkerson.