James and the RMS (Railway Mail Service)

James applied for the mail service in 1935 and with the post office in Moultrie. And the mail clerks post office called first. Then the mail service mail RMS (Railway Mail Service) called. He resigned the post office and went to the mail service in April 1937. He substituted on different runs out of Altanta. Then he got a run from Albany Georgia to Tampa Florida. He worked there for several years.

When Sandra was born, we lived in Union Springs. He caught the train there to go to Georgia. A couple years later we moved from there to Montgomery (around 1943). I went to work when we moved to Montgomery. there was a grocery store around the corner from us and a guy I new in Moultrie had a grocery store there and since we were both from Moultrie he hired me. James made his trip to Waycross one day and came back the next day. Then he was off for two days.

I guess it was sorta in his blood. His dad carried the mail by horse and buggy when they were little. It seemed like that was something he always wanted to do. James loved the mail service.

He had a case as big as a suitcase with holes in it and they had names with towns on it and he had to stick the mail into the right holes (they wern't labeled). I had to check him out to make sure he put them in the right place. He had to study and take test on the new routes they went on. He had to find out which way the mail went on new routes. He had to know which mail to drop off at each station based on the other trains that could pick it up. That's the kind of examination it was. Like when he was running from Atlanta to Floria. The mail that was coming to Alabama, he had to put it off at Thomasville and they would pick it up to take it to Montgomery.

Then they changed to HPO (Highway Post Office). The highway Post office used a bus. It was the same job, they were just on a bus shaped thing instead of the train. He worked the route from Montgomery Alabama to Waycross Georgia. James loved his works and retired after 30 years plus 3 years in the army. He was in the army when I met him. We made friends with a lot of clerks and families. We had a great social life together. He died in 1974 at age 69. We had three Children Wayne Carolyn and Sandra. Wayne served 20 years in the air force as a helicopter pilot. He served a tour in Vietnam.