Despite snow, ice and a hit and run by a deer on the route, which made it impossible to open his driver door, Al said he enjoyed serving customers and is thankful for his years as a postal employee.
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Alvin K. Smith recently retired from the United States Postal Service after serving over 13 years as a Rural Carrier Associate (RCA) at the Gallatin Missouri Post Office. Al’s duties included the distribution and delivery of magazines, newspapers, packages and letters to over 100 miles of rural route territory in Daviess County.
With his familiar “U.S. Mail” signal sign on the top of his vehicle, Al was easy to spot serving customers in northern Daviess County.
Al seemed a natural for the job when in 1980, former Gallatin Postmaster Geneva Johnson hired him to substitute on Gallatin’s rural routes. Al’s quiet, friendly nature gave no indication or brag to his co-workers or customers that working for the United States Postal Service was just another way of serving the country that he loves.
Al’s service to his country began at the early age of 16, when in 1944 he joined the Merchant Marines.
This was a time of war in the United States and the US War Shipping Administration required that voyage plans be kept secret. Al found himself on a ship bound for the Aleutian Islands carrying Christmas mail to our country’s troops along with oil to run the Navy fleet.
Al remained in the Merchant Marines for a year and signed on for several voyages, each of them taking him to sea for at least 30 days.
On one particular voyage, the ship left Seattle Wash. en route to Australia and on to Calcutta, India, where 300 monkeys were loaded on board to be delivered to the Infantile Paralysis Research Center in New York.
In August of 1945, while local newspaperman Joe Snyder and General MacArthur were signing the end of the war with the Japanese surrender, Al Smith and his shipmates who were docked at Ft. Said in Egypt, began disassembling the 20 mm guns and packing them away. That would be the last time Al would travel with the Merchant Marines.
Al’s service to his country, however, was not over. In 1951, he signed on for four years active and four years reserve duty in the U.S. Air Force. Following Basic training in Wichita Falls, Texas, and communication school in Biloxi, Miss., Al joined our countries forces in Korea.
During his time in Korea and in addition to serving his country, the 23 year old Smith acquired his GED diploma completing his education that he had begun before leaving high school to serve his country in 1946.
With an honorable discharge from the armed forces, Al went on to join the civilian workforce where he later successfully owned and operated Century House Furniture business in Gallatin for 16 years.
Due to failing health, Al signed his letter of resignation on Nov. 22, 2003, and handed it to the Gallatin Postmaster Carl Wiles. Mr. Wiles stated that it has been a pleasure and an honor to have an employee who has spent the majority of his life serving his country and bringing his career to an end with the United States Postal Service. He wished Al a very special and happy retirement.