Steve Dick, who’s held just about every job title in his 32-year career with the postal service, remembers the day he was sworn in as Angwin’s postmaster.

It was the same day he was pulled over for speeding on the way to his other job as officer in charge at the St. Helena post office — the second stop in a week by the same policeman and for the same reason. He was running two post offices separated by nine miles of steep, winding road and was rushing to St. Helena to close on time.

“I told the cop, ‘I’m sorry, I have to be in St. Helena right now,’” Dick recalled, kicking into storytelling mode and marveling at his audacity. “‘I have to count the money so just mail me the ticket.’”

Dick, about to retire as St. Helena postmaster, settled back in his office with the sounds of Main Street coming through the windows. With him was longtime post office sidekick, Steve Vargus, whose day usually starts at 4 a.m. The two were trading stories about the old days — at least as far back as 1976 — when Dick first went to work at the St. Helena post office.

Oliver B. Eisan, known to everyone in town as Puffer, was a clerk and carrier then and a man with such a strong work ethic that it rubbed off on all the carriers — and stuck.

“Back in those days, in the 1970s, we all did everything,” Dick recalled. “There weren’t any titles, there weren’t any unions. There weren’t big arguments. There were no time clocks. Puffer taught us the work was important and it didn’t matter who did it as long as it got done. He had done most of it and he taught other people how to do it. It’s because of him the post office is successful today. It wouldn’t be making $400,000-a-year profit ... He set the expectations. We’ve passed that along.”

Dick was 18 and attending Santa Rosa Junior College with the idea of becoming a teacher when his father suggested he instead get a job with the post office, which he considered a secure government job with a future.

It must have been a forceful suggestion because Dick followed his dad’s advice and signed on as a PTF, a part-time flex worker.

“Puffer made us proud to be PTFs,” Dick said. “I even wanted to get a license plate for my Camaro that said PTF.”

125 miles

When Dick first started in St. Helena there were four city routes, one rural route and a small contract route. Today, there are six city routes and three large rural routes. The extensive highway contract route is driven by Dan De Bonis, who has handled the deliveries for more than 25 years.

De Bonis has been recognized nationally as one of the best rural carriers in the country, Dick said. His route takes him to Lake Berryessa six days a week — 125 miles of driving. Over the years he has had to deal with flat tires, broken radiators, run-over raccoons and motorists crossing the center line.

“No matter what, he’s got to finish his route and he has never let us down,” Dick said. “It’s incredible. He replaced Robert Prouty, who never missed a day, never took a vacation.”

St. Helena’s postmaster ticked off the names of other carriers he started with — Ernie Moberg, Sid Anthony, Alfredo Ochoa (still on the staff), Stephen Crowe, Bob Burns, Rodger True and Roger Witta among them — calling them a great crew, “people who really cared about what they were doing.”

In those days there were fewer homes and businesses to deliver to, “but we had tons and tons of letters,” Dick recalled. “We would sort 30 feet of letters every morning ... It would take three of us. Now, even though we have 10 percent, 20 percent more delivery points, each house gets only three or four letters per stop, whereas before, they were getting five or six letters per stop, not including catalogs or packages.”

The advent of e-mail, private carriers and the postal service’s automated letter system has affected the flow of mail, but with last fall’s dramatic drop in the economy, more change is coming, Dick predicted, and the post office is ready to pick up the slack.

The post office “fell apart” for a while in the 1960s, he said, but reorganized in 1972. “We’ve been through three major reorganizations since I’ve been here, maybe a few smaller ones. The one we’re in right now is huge because it’s economically propelled. Huge changes, but now we’re right back to the point where we hope we can bring in the number of parcels we had in 1963.”

All in polyester

From his first days as a PTF Dick moved on to being a full-time window clerk. Since he didn’t mind hitting the road, he also filled in for then-supervisor Paula Creasey at meetings at district headquarters in Oakland.

When he was in his early 20s he was made officer in charge in Angwin. He gave a rueful laugh as he launched into another story.

“I remember that because Pacific Union College Dean Herb Ford would come into my office to talk with me about things, and one day he asked me, ‘How old are you anyway?’ I was in my polyester tie, my polyester shirt, my polyester slacks, my little polyester jacket and I thought I was a pretty important kid for being 23 years old. I told him I was 27. I thought that was so much older.”

Later, Dick served as officer in charge in Rutherford, then as superintendent of the Yountville post office at the Veterans Home and was an instructor with the postal service’s Oakland district before it merged with San Jose.

In the early 1990s he also found time to reactivate his dream of becoming a teacher and earned an AA degree from Napa Valley College, the first step toward a teaching certificate.

After serving as supervisor in St. Helena, he headed back up the hill to Angwin as temporary postmaster, then took on St. Helena as the officer in charge for a few months before being named St. Helena postmaster in 2001, replacing Peter Mennen, who retired after 35 years.

With his own retirement looming — his last day is Jan. 30 — Dick considered the path he took more than three decades ago.

“Every day is an adventure,” he said. “But I’m sure most people don’t give a second thought to what happens back here.

“They don’t think about the people who have gone through these doors, the people who have worked for the postal service without any recognition from anybody outside. They deliver mail every day for 35 years or they drive over 100 miles a day delivering mail without missing a day, then they retire and just disappear. Nobody ever hears about them. These are incredible feats ... We are part of the backbone of America and we never forget that.”

Come February Dick, 50, is returning to school. He’s enrolled at Sonoma State University in the teaching program and when he finishes there he plans to take the additional classes at Sacramento State that will allow him to teach at the junior college level.

“I’m really excited about my new life,” he said, “and the 32 years I put in here have been fun ... We did positive things for the community and for the postal service as a whole; we did great things for the company.”