This article was first published by Cascadia Daily News.
GLACIER, WA — For going on three decades, Patricia “Patty” Davis was a fixture in the Glacier post office.
Her son said she always had music playing as she worked and used to bring her black dog, Bear, with her behind the counter.
“She was just a pillar of the community,” co-worker Jennie Ablondi said. “She was like the second mom to everyone.”
Davis, 70, died of heart complications on Nov. 1. Her passing has left Glacier residents not only mourning her loss, but also fearing for the future of the post office.
Rumors that the United States Postal Service plans to shut it down completely caused alarm this week in the rural community that relies heavily on physical mail. Cell service in the town is poor, while landline phones and WiFi are cut off during frequent power outages.
Glacier’s post office was not accepting outgoing mail on Monday, Nov. 10. The next closest post offices are in Maple Falls, almost 8 miles away, and in Deming, almost 20 miles away. Many locals do not get mail service to their homes.
Using the Maple Falls post office would present additional logistical challenges, in part because it is in a different zip code, said Glacier Water District Commissioner Deborah Ellen Baker. And she noted businesses having to change their address to another area would cause confusion. There are 215 mailboxes at the Glacier location, according to Baker.
“Currently, there is no updated information to provide” about plans for the Glacier post office, USPS spokesperson Janella Herron wrote in an email Wednesday, Nov. 12. She added she would respond again “as soon as I have any further feedback.”
In a Wednesday statement, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray wrote, “The post office in Glacier is not only an important part of the town’s history, but it’s essential to residents who visit every day to send and receive mail, get their medications, and so much else.”
“If this post office shuts down,” she added, “people in Glacier will be forced to travel much longer to get the basic mail services they rely on — I’m reaching out to USPS for more information and answers.”
On Monday, about 19 residents gathered in front of the post office entrance, some holding signs with messages like, “Save Glacier’s post office,” and “Deliver us from closure.”
Glacier Water District, which owns the building, doesn’t charge USPS for the space, Baker said. In fact, Davis paid a monthly $40 utility fee — the minimum the district could charge, Baker said — out of her own pocket.
Fay Catron, who joined the protest Monday, has lived in the area for almost 15 years. When her family first moved into their remote home, getting an address took some time, she said.
“Being out here, we don’t have a whole lot,” Catron said. “And so we — I — rely on this post office a lot.”
If the post office shuts down, Catron said, she may have to take time off work to get packages. She gets things by mail, she explained, because in this remote area it’s “an hour to anything.”
Some, like Diane Gilbraith, rely on the post office for prescriptions. Gilbraith, 80, said as she gets older, “I know my world is getting smaller. But the essentials are here.”
Getting medication by mail is “really important,” she said, “because I know it’s going to get to the point where I won’t be able to drive into town.”
There’s also a social aspect to the significance of the small office, which has a bulletin board for the town and a bookshelf that serves as a mini library.
“It’s our lifeline,” 50-year Glacier resident Jan Eskola said of the post office. “When the mail comes in, it’s a place where we can all gather and share information and ideas.”
After the protest dispersed, all was quiet again at the post office. Kodi Sortino stopped by to pick up her mail. The town has many elderly residents, Sortino said, for whom it would be hard to travel far for mail.
“Why make them go all that way and go through all the hassle of changing their town and all that nonsense?” she asked. Sortino, who’s lived in Glacier for 15 years, has most of her mail delivered to the post office.
Even if the post office stays open, locals will feel Davis’ absence. She took over running the post office in 1999 and had been there ever since.
“It’s just a small community,” Sortino said. “Everybody’s like family.”
Graham Davis said his mom was “my best friend since the day I was born.” She loved music, from The Beatles to Roy Orbison to Enya. Everybody knew Bear, her late dog and work companion.
Gilbraith said she never saw Davis lose her temper. “She just took care of people,” Gilbraith said. “That’s what she did.”
Sortino described Davis as a “free spirit,” someone who “just told you how it was.” It was always fun to chat with Davis on Ablondi on Sortino’s daily post office visits, she said.
“She was like — I don’t want to say a mom, more like an auntie to me,” Sortino said.
“I miss her,” she added. “It will be different without her.”
Graham Davis noted his mother “specifically requested that people celebrate her memory by listening to the song ‘Spirit in the Sky’ by Norman Greenbaum.”
This article was first published by Cascadia Daily News through the Murrow News Fellow program, managed by Washington State University.
Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Bill Lucia for questions: info@washingtonstatestandard.com.
