MT. PLEASANT—Two of the city’s oldest residents were honored during a Pioneer Day celebration last Saturday, centered on the theme of “Fond Memories of the Post Office.”
LuDene A. Hamilton, 90, and Joe Jensen, 91, both had good memories of postmasters over the years.
Hamilton’s favorite postmaster was Ed Monk, who served from 1965 to 1985. “He was a good family friend,” she said.
“Ray was a problem solver!” said Jensen about his favorite postmaster, Ray Bohne, who fixed the hydroelectric plant up the canyon when no one else could.
Jensen was born on December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was attacked, and is the youngest of nine children. Seven of his brothers served in World War II. He has memories of Bohne picking up letters that Jensen’s mother had written to her deployed sons.
During World War II, the cost to mail a postcard was 1 cent. A regular letter cost 3 cents, and an airmail letter was 6 cents.
Jensen has been married to Gwendolen (nicknamed Glow) for 69 years. He is a retired English and journalism teacher. He spent his working years in California but returned to Mt. Pleasant upon his retirement.
Hamilton and Jensen both graduated from high school in 1949.
These city gems lived when gas was a tiny fraction of what it is today. Hamilton remembered when it was only 25 cents a gallon, and Jensen remembered the days when he was charged only 22 cents per gallon.
The mail service in Mt. Pleasant started in 1864 with David Candland as the first postmaster.
Prior to the construction of a post office, the U.S. Postal Service tried serving remote towns out of buses. Before Mt. Pleasant had mail delivery services, the mail for city residents was delivered only as far as Moroni. Residents would walk to Moroni to pick up their own mail and often get the mail for their neighbors as well.
The Pioneer Day events were hosted by the Mt. Pleasant Historical Society.
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