Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 36, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 7, 1988 Page: 3 of 12
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Palacios Beacon, Sept. 7, 1988-Page 3
Don Davis
BUICK
2011 N. Mechanic
1822 N, Mechanic
El Campo, Texas
143-1 143 Used Cars
Twenty-nine year veteran known as the ^post office’’
postal career concludes for John Ressler
&*[——■-±——- 1978. "No one can match his knowledge of the
kW NICK WEST nff\rp. thf* tnu/n nr his dedication. He is.very
NICK WEST
.♦Tfeaton Publisher
>.v The cold, the.dogs and a storm called Hurricane
t'darla are some of the hardships he remembers.
y$ut more lasting memories, and ones that are more
-iondly recalled are those of old friends, new faces
I^hd the friendliness and kindness of his co-work-
ers and the people he has served.
Those were just some of the things John
‘Tifessler remembered early Wednesday morning
•.list week as he sat on a bench in the mail-room of
; the Palacios Post Office. All around were many of
L those same cc workers and friends of whom he
£/ had spoken of. They were enjoying the fresh-
fj baked pastries and other refreshments laid out on a
4-table amid balloons and posters brought in to help
• commemorate a major milestone in Resslefs life,
gfe; It was a little after 8 a.m. and once the "party"
fcilas over, Ressler would begin his final day on the
:;$b with the Palacios Post Office. At the end of the
•;4ay, Ressler, who has become such a familiar fig-
associated with the Palacios Post Office that he
i&woften referred to as the "post office".would be-
$;j}h a well-earned and well-deserved retirement.
' It was a 29-year postal career that began on
| July 25, 1959 by walking a 12-15 mile route up
j and down the streets of Palacios carrying a heavy
! leather pouch that at times bulged with up to 35-
1 pounds of letters, bills, magazines and package for
! Residents and businesses. It concluded with a
J tiiore "comfortable" position as a clerk at the post
! office.
j 4' "It's been a good job and one that I have really
; efijoyed," said the soft-spoken Ressler. Prior to
; -1959 he had been a self-employed carpenter, a job
! -Be quickly pointed out which did not offer a lot of
j security. At the age of 37 he went to work at the
'/post office for Postmaster Tom Friery. "It was a
:: job that provide not only security, but a service to
the public as well."
Since then he has worked for two other Post-
: masters, Cornell Prindle and then George Gunter.
■ In between there were various acting and/or tem-
:jxrrary postmasters, a position where Ressler has
• also held.
"We can find someone to fill his position, but
/• we'll never find anyone that can replace John,"
•Commented Gunter who became Postmaster in
1978. "No one can match his knowledge of the
post office, the town or his dedication. He i§ vppy
quite and you hardly know he's around until you
need him, then he is there."
Having the longest tenure at the Palacios office,
Ressler was closely associated in the public's mind
with the post office. "He is the post office around
here," remarked Gunter. He added, only half-jok-
ingly that "people call and ask for him instead of
me."
Among the various honors he has earned during
his 29-years on job was a "Superior Accomplish-
ment Award fo Outstanding Performance".
His first 25-years was spent as a postal carrier.
In the early years, Ressler pointed out, Palacios
was smaller and it was easier to know almost ev-
erybody by name. Later, particularity in the
1970's, an influx of next residents ocClirred, pri-
marily as a result of the const^^on at the South
Texas Project, which made it harder to keep up
who was who and who was living where. Thing’s
were a-changin'.
What didn't change dtfrfrig most of that quarter
century was the task of the "mailman" to walk the
route. The Palacios Post Office did not receive
jeeps to get from one point to another until about
1973. Prior to that it was the mailman, his feet, his
endurance, die weather and, of course, the dogs.
For Ressler, there was no problem with either
his feet or endurance. The weather and dogs-the
bane of a mailman’s existence-were a different
problem. Ironically it was not the hot, humid
weather that bothered him while lugging the 35-
pound mail pouch a dozen miles a day, but it was
the cold, wet winters that penetrated to the bones.
However, that came with the mailman's territory
of "neither rain, nor sleet nor snow, etc...”In fact,
Ressler said, no longer having to endure those
winter temperatures made being transferred to an
inside clerk more acceptable.
The only time he remembers the weather having
an effect on mail delivery was back in 1961 when
Hurricane Carta ransacked the Texas Coast, par-
ticularty Palacios. Because the storm completely
wiped out houses and moved others a block or
more, the post office had to cut out city delivery
until things returned to normal. Instead, customers
had to come to the office to pick up their mail
which made things a little hectic in the small Pala-
1 inal mail call
JOHN RESSLER "puts the mail up" in
customer's boxes for the final time at the
Palacios Post Office. Ressler, who many
called "the post office", retired August 31
after 29-years of service which included
25-years as a route mail carrier. (Beacon
Photo by Nick West)
THEY MOVE!
Ml k
fra-ghirty original wooden toys—that shake,
I rattle, roll, clatter, snap, crawl and jiggle—
JL are yours for the making with readily avail-
able woods and ordinary workshop tools. Push or
pull any of the "animated” toys and they spring to
life in an uncanny imitation of the real thing.
How to Make Animated Toys offers step-by-step, instructions, vivid 2-color,
easy-to-follow patterns and exploded drawings that "show you exactly what to
cut—where to hammer—-and how to assemble every project.
Imagine the fun kids will have pushing, pulling and spinning prehistoric
monsters, active animals and wonderful wheeled vehicles. Here are just a few of
the projects:
• Leaping kangaroos • A turtle whose head and tail
• A daw-snapping lobster disappear inside the shell.
• A jaw-crunching tyrannosaurus • Planes, boats, trucks, flying saucers
• and dozens more!
Best of all—this treasury of toys is part of the Popular Science library for
woodworkers, so you know you can trust it for expert instructions and easy-to-use
patterns that reap high-quality results.
320 pages (all in 2-color), 8k4 x 8K
TO ORDER: Send your name, address, zip code and 112.95 plus $1.50 postage
and handling to American Melody, 123 South Street, Oyster Bay, NY 11771. NY
residents add appropriate sales tax. Please print clearly.
SAVE! Order two for $24.00 plus $1.90 postage and handling.
cicis post office.
Dogs may be "man's best friend" but the
friendship of dogs to mail carriers is too often
questionable. Even Ressler's always pleasant and
cheerful personality did not sway some canines
from displaying and using their dentures.
''I’ve always gotten along with the public, but I
never knew what to expect when a dog came up,"
laughed Ressler. That too, he accepted as part of
the job. "I've been bitten more than I can tell, per-
haps 30 or 40 times. It never been a really bad bit,
but sometimes I had to go to a doctor for some
doctoring."
Accept perhaps for dogs, Ressler believes the
people on his route appreciated his service. It was
meeting and seeing those folks that he missed the
most when transferred to clerk. It the people too
that he says he will miss after leaving the post of-
fice.
"The people of Palacios have been wonderful
and the people that I have worked with were a
good bunch,” he said with sincere fondness. "I'm
really going to miss all of them."
Right now, however, he had to go back and
accept well-wishes from his co-workers before
punching the time-clock for his final day on the
job. Afterall, neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet--or
dogs-etc... t
THE BROKER. THE BAKER.
THE CANDLESTICK MAKER.
EDWARD D. JONES & COMPANY.
A PART OF THE AMERICAN SCENE SINCE 1871.
Edward D. Jones & Co. invites you
and your family to join us for our
annual Founder's Day celebration:
An Inw flrsam Rnniall
Come enjoy yourselves.
Sunday, September 11,1988
Bauer Community Center
2:00-4:00 p.m.
Rob Spiller
717 N. Virginia
Port Lavaca, Tx.
(512)552-3813
There will be Door Prizes
55 Edward D. Jones & Co.1
Mamoar Ntw vo* Stock Eicnang*. me and Sacu'itiai tnvasto' ftowcien Corporation
★ 0I1LV 27 LEFT *
1988 Model Cadillacs, Buicks, Oldsmobiles,
Pontiacs and GMC Trucks. Most at Dealer In-
voice or Below Don says,
"Everything Must Go!"
CADILLACS
OLDMOBILES
'88 Brougham
'88 Sedan deVille
was $27,439
NOW $22,939
was $26,087
NOW $22,087
'88 Cutlass Cierra
'88 Cutlass Supreme
'88 Cutlass Supreme SL
BUICKS
'88 Skylark
'88 Regal Limited
'88 Regal Custom
'88 LeSabre Custom
'88 LeSabre Custom
'88 Park Avenue
'88 Park Avenue
was $14,214
NOW 12,414
was $16,092
NOW 13,992
was $14,724
NOW 12,850
was $16,234
NOW 14,440
was $16,555
NOW 14,755
was $21,608
NOW 18,608
was $21,131
NOW 18,*21
was $14,639
NOW $12,639
was $15,229
NOW $12,729
was $16,078
NOW $13,578
'88 Cutlass Supreme I Series was $17,383
NOW $14,883
'88 Delta 88 Royale Brghm. was $18.116
NOW $16,116
'88 Delta 88 Royale Brghm. was $17,683
NOW $15,683
'88 Delta Royale was $16,479
NOW $14,479
was $25,275
NOW $21,775
was $21,380
NOW $18,300
'88 98 Touring Sedan
'88 98 Regency Brghm.
PONTIACS
CMC TRUCKS
'88 Sierra 1/2-ton
'88 Sierra 1/2-ton
'88 Sierra 1/2-ton
'88 Suburban
'88 S-15 Jimmy
'88 S-15 Jimmy
was $13,308
NOW 11,808
was $13,147
NOW 11,647
was $13,460
NOW 11,960
was $21,166
NOW 19,166
was $15,844
NOW 14,344
was $15,906
NOW 14,406
'83 Sunbird GT
’88 Ggrand Prix LE
'88 Grand Am LE
was $12,034
NOW $10,834
was $15,676
NOW $13,676
was $13,008
NOW $11,990
HURRY - DON'T WRIT
♦Sale prices include factory rebates and
dealer discounts. Factory rebates expiration
dates are controlled by each manufacturer.
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West, Nicholas M. Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 36, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 7, 1988, newspaper, September 7, 1988; Palacios, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth725712/m1/3/: accessed July 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Palacios Library.