September 28, 2006

Postmaster Dave Kennedy describes his new job in Yellow Springs as “probably as close to paradise as you can get.”

By Virgil Hervey

Who among us hasn’t gone to the U.S. Post Office in Yellow Springs and run into someone they know? If there’s a line, it’s not so bad, when you’re swapping stories with a neighbor. It helps to keep the customers happy.

New Yellow Springs Postmaster Dave Kennedy immediately noticed the difference in the atmosphere of the post office lobby from Dayton, where he worked for the post office for some 11 years, and Fairborn, where he worked another seven years, he said in an interview last week.

“The amazing thing about Yellow Springs is how laid-back people are,” he said.

To say that he appreciates the small-town atmosphere here would be an understatement. In a recent interview, Kennedy said of his new job, “It’s probably as close to paradise as you can get.” He added that he could see himself retiring here; he has 12 more years to go. Apparently, he isn’t the only post office employee who sees it that way. The process of getting the position in Yellow Springs, which opened up when the prior postmaster left to take a job closer to her home, was a “bidding war,” he said.

Kennedy described the post office as being like a family, similar to what police officers and firemen experience. When one of their co-workers falls, they are there to pick them up, he said.

As a supervisor, he walked routes with his mail carriers in some of the worst neighborhoods in Dayton and says that, no matter how tough an area was, his people always seemed to garner a measure of respect. What he noticed while making the rounds in Yellow Springs is that most people know the carriers by name.

Kennedy, who looks too young to be the father of three and grandfather of two that he is, lives with his wife in Dayton in an old house they bought three years ago and have been renovating ever since. As much as he likes Yellow Springs, he said that he is too consumed with his rehab project to consider moving here right now.

He is pleased with the crew of nine that he inherited. The window people are courteous and make eye-contact, he said, and villagers seem happy to greet the mail carriers on their routes. He looks forward to the day when everyone knows him as well as they seem to know his crew.

Kennedy even likes the 1940 building.

“Have you noticed these hardwood floors?” he asked. “I couldn’t wait to show them to my wife!” He said she has been to see the place once, and expects that she will be back for lunch on a regular basis.

“I appreciate being here,” he said.