Recipes for Living Michael Durell

Mike's introduction begins with his appointment as Osceola's Postmaster, which aroused a curiosity about the history of postal service. He was able to find the complete history beginning in the American Colonies in the year 1637 when colonial law required every planter to provide a messenger to convey dispatches. From this early beginning, service was started between New York and Boston. Finally, in 1673, William Penn established the first post office in Philadelphia.

The beginning of the Post Office Department dates with the naming of Andrew Hamilton as Postmaster General of the United States in 1691. He introduced an inter-colonial post and engaged five riders to cover the colonies.

The real development of our postal system began in earnest in 1775 when the Continental Congress elected Benjamin Franklin to carry on the work. As the country grew, there was a demand for more rapid mail service between the East and West. This led to the famous "pony express." The mail was carried rapidly overland on horseback. The first pony express started on April 3, 1860 from St. Joseph, Missouri, and proceeded to Sacramento, California.

In 1862 the Postmaster at St. Joseph, Missouri, William A. Davis, with the assistance of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company (now Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company), placed a distributing unit in a train between Hannibal, Missouri and St. Joseph, Missouri, which proved to be very successful.

Information about the history of the Osceola post office was available from historian Marie White. She provided a picture of the staff in 1934, and with it is information stating at that time, the post office was in the building which is now Reynoldson Law Offices on the southwest comer of the square. Joe Goodman was Postmaster, Verner (Bun) Paschall was Assistant Postmaster, clerks were Walter West and Ernest Gray, substitute clerk was Warren Adams; city carriers were Wayne McIntire and Lyle Foster, rural carriers were Claude Shepherd, Joe Banker, Bill Vandall, Millard Adams, and substitute rural carrier was Pearl Showers. The post office moved to the present location in 1935. In 1936, a mural was contracted for with Byron Ben Boyd, and hung on the north wall of the post office. The 12'x10' oil on canvas mural is entitled "The Arrival of the First Train."

On May 15, 1941, the first Highway Post Office was placed in operation between Washington, D.C., and Williamsburg, Virginia. With the establishment of the Des Moines and St. Joseph Highway Post Office, there were approximately 94 HPOs in operation. With further development of the federal highway system, the Highway Post Office service was expected to greatly increase.

There is a detailed account of July 4, 1952, when the Des Moines and St. Joseph Highway Post Office made its inaugural trip. The Iowa State Highway Patrol provided an escort to the Iowa-Missouri state line, at which point the Missouri State Patrol took over and escorted for the remainder of the trip. The first stop was Indianola, and a notation was made that the population was then about 5,000. Simpson College enrolled approximately 600 students. When they arrived at their next stop, Osceola, they were greeted by Postmaster Lawrence L. Hagie, who introduced Mayor Joe Banker. The next stop was Weldon, where the postmaster was Cash E. Garton. On to Van Wert, where the postmaster was Paul E. Heckathorn. The continuing route took them through Leon, Davis City, and Lamoni in Iowa. In Missouri, Eagleville, Blythedale, Ridgeway, Bethany, New Hampton, Albany, Stanberry, King City, Union Star, to St. Joseph.

More recent Osceola Postmasters have been Mrs. Hazel I. Showman, appointed December 4, 1976, Don Tierney, Officer in Charge; John D. Van Gorp, June 13, 1981, Susan J. Knight, appointed Officer in Charge August 28, 1990; Leland Crawford, Postmaster, appointed January 12, 1991, Mike Durell, Officer in Charge appointed October 8, 2002; Joleen K. Bolger appointed Officer in Charge January 10, 2003; and Mike Durell, Postmaster May 31, 2003.

Mike's postal service appointments have been: Officer in Charge in Lamoni, August 27, 1992; Officer in Charge in Mt. Ayr, December 29, 1998; Mt. Ayr's Postmaster January 30, 1999; Osceola's Officer in Charge, October 8, 2002; and Postmaster to Osceola May 31, 2003. He remembers changes during those years:

When he began, clerks had assigned duties to distribute mail, sorting larger envelopes and magazines ("flats"), another clerk sorting letters. "There were mornings it seemed we would never see the end of the stack of trays containing letters. Some arrived bundled by rubber bands, transported in white canvas sacks with draw-strings. Larger envelopes were bound with string or rubber bands, also in sacks. Needless to say, we had a large accumulation of sacks and rubber bands.

"The beginning of computerization of deliveries of city letter carrier routes happened shortly after I began, when the Postmaster received instructions to list all the addresses on the city carrier cases in order of delivery. Each address was identified by a number whether it was a residential or business type delivery. After this was completed on each route, the list of addresses were sent to the District Office and soon were returned as color coded labels with the house or building addresses in order of delivery. Each street name was given a different color coded symbol that was unique to that street name. The purpose was to aid carriers to learn the routes when extensive changes were made or new routes developed. It was much easier to look for the color symbol and find the house number than the earlier handwritten labels. Rural routes followed this conversion a couple years later.

"In one of several Postal Service publications, I read the history of the Zone Improvement Program (ZIP Code), and that they were working on a computerized machine with a camera that could actually take a picture of the address on a letter and quicken mail sorting. That became a reality and as time went on a method was developed for sorting letters using the computerized carrier route lists to sort letters using the computerized carrier route lists for the carriers in Delivery Point Sequence (DPS).

"As the push increased for more computerized methods to sort mail, several methods were devised, and I had the opportunity to be involved in one called (REC) Remote Encoding Centers. The purpose of the centers was to employee people to view computer monitors which had images of letters and, with a keyboard, key in the address. In 1944, I applied for and was promoted to a supervisory position at an REC opening in West Des Moines. I was one of ten supervisors who were over up to sixty people in shifts around the clock. The center keyed mail from the start for Milwaukee and later for Omaha. Eventually the center keyed mail for Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Green Bay and Madison, Wisconsin. Each of these cities had a mail processing center where the mail was passed through a computerized machine running 24,000 letters per' hour. The address portion of the envelope was photographed and stored on a hard drive, and then each image was assigned a unique identity and transmitted by modem to the West Des Moines center. The REC there had equipment that stored the images on large computer hard drives and sent them to computer screens where they were keyed so the computer would recognize the address.

"The images were attached to the information given by the keyers and then transmitted back to the city where the actual mail piece sat waiting. The letters were processed on the machine again and the information received from West Des Moines was encoded on each piece of mail, allowing the computer to continue the sorting process. This was actually much faster and less costly overall than previous methods. -

"This process has been improved upon by the advancement of technology where most of the REC' s have been closed and nearly 95% of the letter mail is being read by the computerized cameras and sorted successfully. Processes are in place for this technology to advance further to other sizes of mail.

"Recently computers have been installed in all the Post Offices in Iowa and have e-mail service. All the offices are connected to the internet and a website called My Post Office. The website connects all offices to customer issues, holds mail requests, and package pickup. The Postal website, usps.com, is a service recently introduced to the public where almost anything bought or transacted at the local post office can be done at your home computer. Where will it end or slow down? Wait and see."

As Mike told his personal story, it became evident that three factors are vitally important to him: family, church, and work ethic, which includes being alert for ways to advance.

Family: Mike grew up in Decatur County south of Leon on the Century Farm developed by his granddad and great-granddad. They built the house, bam, and all other buildings on the farm where Mike' father was born in 1932, and Mike was born in 1957. His dad took over the farm in the late 1950s, shortly after Mike was born.

Immediately upon beginning his story, Mike made it known that instead of his, we should be doing the life story of his grandmother, born in 1899. Now at the age of 106, she is the oldest resident of Westview Care facility in Leon. Mike's wife Charletta, daughter Marci, and son Daren, visited and made a video tape on several of her birthdays. In the first, when she was 98, she was as bright as the red dress she wore, and alert to where they were located and what was happening in the lives of each member of her family: five children, 17 grandchildren, 40-plus great grandchildren and 12 great-great grandchildren. Her children had been there to see her and she knew how many cards she had received, although her eyesight was poor and she wasn't able to read them. In the picture-taking with various family members, she was concerned that her hair was in order, and on cue, all were ready to say "cheese." There was much good humor and genuine interest in the activities of and encouragement to the children. At that time, Daren was in seventh grade and playing football, Marci was their volleyball player. There were comments about children of this generation being taller, and they decided it must be all the pop they drink. Grandma never drank pop or coffee or tea-just water, lemonade, or milk.

On another visit, Grandma commented about still being in her home. She got along well with a crackpot and electric skillet. Probably she should consider a nursing home, but she acknowledged that she was quite independent and liked to do for herself. That wouldn't be possible in a nursing home. However, when the family visited her on her 105th birthday, she was at Westview. It was evening and she was in bed, but again she was alert to the fact that it was her birthday, and the gifts of chocolate, bananas, popcorn, and cards she had received. Mike's religious background became apparent as they were preparing to leave- both he and his grandmother prayed, Mike thanking God for her life and the encouragement she had been to the family. After they sang Happy Birthday, she sang "The Old Rugged Cross" and "In the Garden."

Church: Mike and the family attend the Leon Bible Church. Both Mike and Charletta are musical and share their talent in the church. Charletta has played the piano for years, and Mike chooses the songs and continues to be the soloist. Both have taught Sunday school classes and worked with high school youth. Mike had always wanted to play the guitar. His father played and the children tried, but they didn't understand it was necessary to build up callouses on their fingers, so when the sharp strings made it too painful, they gave up. However, in 1997, Mike gave in to his desire, bought a guitar, and with another fellow, started playing for church. He and Charletta teach young people the songs, with guitar accompaniment, hoping to encourage them as he wishes someone had done for him. Mike also serves on the church board as elder. His term will end this year, but he will have the option of continuing.

Origin of his work ethic and desire to advance: Mike was born August 27, 1957, the son of James and Barbara Durell. He remembers being told that he could have been born a couple days earlier. The couple made several trips in anticipation, responding to labor pains that proved to be false. Mike has one brother, 5 ½ years younger, and a sister, Sharon. He and Sharon are two years apart. Although James had taken over the family farm after Mike was born, in addition to farming, he always held another job, for a time being Deputy Clerk of Court for Decatur County. Barbara stayed home until the children were in school, and then also took a job, so both parents more or less worked away from the farm.

Mike started to school in Leon in 1962. In those days, kindergarten children went only half days, with country kids coming in the morning, town kids in the afternoon. Therefore, Mike spent lots of time on the farm, and with his brother and sister, ran through the pastures, followed cow paths, and played in the ditches. The family had several dogs and he spent a lot of time playing with them. He has always been a dog lover, loved the outdoors, enjoyed hunting and fishing, looking for rocks and Indian relics, the latter of which they didn't find on their farm. He thought he might grow up to be a farmer like his dad.

Mike went all through school in Leon. In sports, he played football in junior high, wrestled beginning in fifth grade, and continued off and on through the rest of the years. Primarily, he was active in music, both instrumental and vocal. His beginning instrument was the trumpet until high school, when a friend, who also played the trumpet, suggested they try another instrument. Leon had a small band with several trumpeters, but the school had a French horn and no one to play it, so he and the friend learned the French horn. He was challenged by another friend the next year to play the baritone. The advantage was that these three all had the same fingering, but when Mike was a senior, the tuba player passed along his position, which required different fingering. It was not too difficult to learn, and Mike played the tuba most of his senior year. This gave him a good understanding of the various brass instruments in the band. Vocally, he was in choir, sang in musicals - "Annie Get Your Gun," was part of a trio in "There's No Business Like Show Business"- and had parts in some of their plays, such as ''Fiddler on the Roof," "Summer People," and others.

Mike's August birthday caused him to start school early, and therefore, when he graduated in 1975, he was only 17 and hadn't decided what he wanted to do. Farming was his preference, but his dad thought he should have a trade, so he enrolled in Ryder Technical Institute, owned by the Ryder Trucking Company. It was an automotive diesel school in Des Moines. The selling point for trade schools was, "Learn a trade and get into the working field." It was an eight month school. He finished and held a part time job for awhile, but before graduation, he secured a job at Graceland College in Lamoni as campus mechanic. He worked there for a year on small gasoline engines, cars, pick ups, and tractor -whatever gasoline or diesel engines needed attention.

All the while, Mike was looking for another type of work. A friend from high school, who was working as assistant manager at a West Des Moines service station owned by Farm Bureau, told him about a spot there if Mike wanted it. It sounded like a good opportunity, so he left Graceland College and went to work for Farm Bureau Life Insurance, as a mechanic on their fleet of cars. He had been there about six months when Graceland contacted him, offered his old job back with a pay increase. He had become tired of city life, so he decided to move back home and return to work for Graceland College.

Charletta Warren came into Mike's life while he was a senior in high school. They began dating, and continued during the time he worked at Graceland. They broke up for a year after she graduated from high school, while she attended Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny. She continued there for a year and one semester, after which Mike and Charletta were reunited. In July, they decided they should think seriously about their relationship. Mike proposed, and they made plans to be married in 1979. He was working at Graceland for the second time, and had been promoted to assistant grounds supervisor.

Mike and Charletta were married in June 1979 and made their home in a small apartment in Lamoni. Mike owned a motorcycle, and that fall took it to a repair shop, Shade Tree Yamaha, in Lamoni. The owner knew he worked at Graceland, and asked if he had ever thought about working on motorcycles. He suggested that Mike could work for him part time on Thursday evenings uncrating bikes, assembling them, and getting them ready for sale. Mike considered it would be kind of a fun thing to do.

He went home, talked it over with Charletta, and they decided he should take the job. He worked for two or three hours on Thursday evenings until about October when he was offered a full time job. The owner told him he was taking on another line, renaming the business Shade Tree Yamaha/Honda. Shortly after that, Mike resigned from Graceland College and worked full time for Jim Johnson. Over the next three years, he was sent to several schools in Milwaukee to learn how to become a Honda mechanic.

Mike remained at that job until 1982, at which time the economy wasn't too good. There was awhile when the employees' hours were cut to seven a day. Another time they were asked to help keep the business afloat by taking an extra day off each week. Motorcycle sales being seasonal, the owner started selling snowmobiles, hoping to keep the employees year round. The following year, the economy had not improved, and the two employees each worked three days a week. Mike supplemented his income by using his free time doing odd jobs, painting and roofing houses. By fall they were getting busy again so they made it through that part of the season.

In the fall of 1983, their first child was born on September 15. They named her Marci Kae, Kae being Charletta's middle name. Not too long after that, early in the spring of 1984, Mike was still working half-weeks, and started looking for another part time job. He took postal tests, tried to get employment with the DOT (Department of Transportation), when someone told him about a job with the Soil Conservation Service. That person would become a state employee, so Mike applied, and took the state test in order to be on the register.

Mike was hired in 1984, working for the state of Iowa in the Soil Conservation Service. He worked with a technician who surveyed and designed ponds and terraces with a drafting board and contractors, making sure they had all the earth work in the right places. He talked with farmers about their crop rotations, figuring the best crop rotation according to their soil types, in order to keep from losing too much soil. After a year or two, the name of the position was upgraded to Engineering Aide, which gave Mike a pay increase and more responsibility.

Mike always had a yearning to become involved in the military and decided to check into it. He didn't want full time but knew about the Army Guard and talked to people in both the Army and National Guard, in which he enlisted in November 1984. He left for Basic Training in San Antonio, Texas in January 1985. It was quite an experience for a 27 year old. He was one of the oldest in basic training. Most of the fellows were 18 and 19, but there were four his age.

They had an experience in San Antonio unlike he had been accustomed to in Iowa. There they rarely saw snow, but the third weekend Mike was there, they had 13 inches. It practically froze the city down. The servicemen didn't see their training instructors for three days. People couldn't get out of their houses. They didn't know how to drive in snow, which was made more difficult than usual, because the city didn't have equipment to move it. To keep them busy, the men were given brooms and pointed shovels to clear the sidewalks. Being from the Midwest, Mike knew how to scoop snow, and he knew you didn't do it with a pointed shovel.

The snow quickly melted and temperatures warmed back up but it killed a lot of the palm trees. They looked strange-a straight stalk about 15 or 20 feet in the air, the frozen top limp and fallen over. Crews cut them down with circular and chain saws, and hauled them away.

While he was in service, Mike made use of his ability to play the guitar. He connected with others in the Air Guard, playing at chapel services, which gave him the opportunity to become close friends with all the chaplains. He enjoyed five years of doing that.

Mike finished Basic Training on Valentine's Day, and was shipped off to Rantoul, Illinois, which is close to Champaign, the home of the University of Illinois. While waiting for the rest of his training class to arrive, Mike began processing to learn to be an Air Crew Egress Technician, which meant he worked on the ejection seat in aircraft. The first week was spent in orientation. They adjusted to a more studious atmosphere than had been the case in basis training. After they finished that week, there were enough men to have a class, and the next six weeks were spent studying ejection seats on various aircraft.

Mike spent a total of 104 days from the time he left home on January 3, until he returned sometime about the end of March or early April, and went back to his full time job as Engineering Aide in the Conservation Service. He had continuing duty as Air Crew Egress Technician, and over the next years attended additional tech schools and had more work on aircraft. He periodically was back, two weeks at a time, in Illinois. He spent time in Tucson, Arizona, in Panama, Florida, Wisconsin, Germany, Japan, Kuwait, and Hawaii. In 2005, Mike will finish 20 years in the military and retired December 31, 2004, to become a reservist.

(The following information is taken from Turning Point by Charles J. Gross):

"The Air National Guard has been through a revision throughout the years. The Korean conflict was a crucial turning point in their history, reversing the downward slide of the Guard's relationship with the Air Force and marked the beginning of the former's evolution into an effective reserve component of the latter. During the Korean War, 80% of the Air Guard was called up. They flew 39,530 combat sorties and destroyed 39 enemy aircraft, while losing 101 of its own. During that time, most of the remaining Guardsmen remained in the U.S. bracing for a possible Soviet attack. The Air Guard played an integral role in strengthening NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) defenses in Europe, trying to prevent another world war ...Air Guardsmen demonstrated that, if properly trained and equipped, they could contribute significantly to combat operations and other critical Air Force missions during the buildup for the expected Cold War confrontation with the Soviet Union."

In 1985, Mike was the breadwinner of the family, and they decided it would be wise to move from Lamoni closer to Leon. Charletta had worked in a bank in Lamoni and was able to get a job at the bank in Leon. They found a house on a farm north of town, where, in exchange for rent, Mike was to take care of 100 head of cows. Several months later, their son, Daren Michael, was born in February. The heat for the house was from a wall furnace, which wasn't adequate.

In 1987, Mike was still working with Soil Conservation trying to get a promotion from the state side to the federal side of the commission, which would give him the advantages of higher pay grades and more room for advancement. He received a couple job offers in northern Iowa, but at lesser pay than he currently received. He began to realize he didn't have enough education to provide some of the promotional opportunities, so he started taking night classes, working toward a college degree. He also was looking for other jobs. As a result of postal tests, he received a call to come for an interview for a city carrier job in Des Moines. He was called back to take a driving test, passed, and was handed paper work for physical. He received a letter saying they would let him know, but felt assured of a job. When he heard nothing further, he called to ask his status and was told there was a freeze on hiring, but to hold tight and as soon as they opened up the freeze, they would probably resume the process.

In the fall of 1987, Mike received a call from the Leon post office to report for a job interview. His name was on their register to be hired for a city carrier. A week later, the Leon Postmaster informed him they had hired someone who had veteran's status. Even though he was in the military, he was not classed as a veteran, but an active reservist. He was disappointed, but three months later he received a call saying the person they hired had quit. His name was at the top of the list of eligibles, but so much time had elapsed that the list had to be regenerated to see if there were other veterans. He was still at the top of the list, so on February 29, Leap Year, 1988 he started working for the Post Office in Leon as a city carrier. He was scheduled for 18 to 20 hours a week which allowed him to keep his job with the soil conservation service part time.

After about six months, he started getting more time at the post office and let his appointment with the conservation service expire. During the 25 to 30 hours a week at the post office, he began learning to be a clerk. At that time, the Postmaster job at Decatur City opened up. Those jobs didn't come open often, so all the postal employees applied, all were interviewed, but none got the job. There was an offer of early retirement at that time, so there were several other openings in post offices at Weldon, Van Wert, Kellerton, and Davis City. Again, all applied, all were interviewed, but none were hired. The situation created many possibilities, and Mike was told of a possible opening in Lamoni. He was advised, "If you are interested in advancement, you probably should visit with the Postmaster," which he did. He was told that if the clerk would get the job she had applied for at Kellerton, it would open the clerk's job in Lamoni. This happened and in January 1991, Mike went to work as clerk in Lamoni. He was there about three years and became Officer in Charge when the Postmaster retired. He worked there another year in that status, and another lady was appointed as Postmaster.

During all this time, Mike was continuing night classes and graduated with a degree in Business Management in 1993. He continued watching for possible promotion, applying for different Postmaster jobs, and in 1994, he heard of an opportunity in West Des Moines, which dealt with one of the postal services transitioning into the automation part of processing mail. He applied and was given a supervisor job in West Des Moines. He changed jobs in June 1994. He was there two years and eight months, and during that time, he worked in the Indianola Post Office temporarily as supervisor of carriers. He finished that assignment in December, 1998. He became Officer in Charge at the Mt. Ayr Post Office, applied for the position of Postmaster, and was appointed in 1999. He served in that position until October 2002, when he was offered the position of Officer in Charge at the Osceola Post Office from October until January 2003. He returned to the Mt. Ayr Post Office. When the Postmaster position opened in Osceola, he applied and on May 31, 2003 was appointed to Osceola. Mike and Charletta celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2004.

Mike and Charletta have passed along to their children the musical talents and training opportunities both of them had. Their children took piano lessons and were involved in music throughout their schooling, as Mike and Charletta had been. After she graduated in 2001, Marci attended college at the Word of Life Bible Institute in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. During the year she was in Canada, she asked to have a guitar. The campus was small, there were about 30 students, none had cars or jobs, and they were about 15 minutes from town. She had plenty of time to learn to play, and getting together to play guitar and sing sounded attractive. After a year she transferred to a Bible College in Kansas City. She is currently in her second year of college. She is taking vocal lessons, and is employed by US Bank as teller, and recently became engaged. When she has Completed her formal education, Marci expects to go into some area of ministry.

Daren's musical interest is primarily the drums. He was active in sports in high school, and in his junior year, asked if he could be home schooled in a program called the Network of Iowa Christian Home School Educators (NICHE). This was not a problem. He is self-motivated and self disciplined. His parents encouraged his plan and agreed to work with him, so they obtained the material and he spent his junior and senior years being home schooled. He has always tested exceptionally bright, confirmed by ACT tests in which he scored well, and his scores increased. He scored 23 as a sophomore, 25 as a junior, and 27 as a senior, which put him in upper scholarship range. He graduated in May 2003 at a ceremony in Des Moines.

Like his sister, Daren decided, with his parents' encouragement, to attend Bible College for a year. It is their opinion that no matter what else they do with their lives, they will always be able to use that training. It gives further grounding in where they feel all our lives should be, in service to God. It would also give them a chance to meet other young people of the same inclination, who have the same life-long goals. According to Mike, "College is for finding out what you are supposed to do and where you are supposed to go. Lots of times, one year in college can help with that process. Daren is still finding that out."

Daren is attending Calvary Bible College on a scholarship. There are not a lot of alumni investing, so the scholarships are small - $200 a semester. However, his sister having been a student there, also, made them eligible for a family scholarship. Combined, that is $400 a semester, or $800 for the year, which is good for a Bible School. Daren loves music and still plays drums. He didn't feel confident singing, although he can sing. He had a guitar for a couple years, decided he needed a better one, and is now taking lessons on classical guitar. He is looking into a recording type of job, hoping to work in a sound recording studio or in his own studio. He wants to be in a praise and worship band and use his talents that way. The parents are encouraging him to find his way without telling him what he must do.

Marie White provided a picture of the staff taken in 1934. Back row: Postmaster Joe Goodman, substitute clerk Warren Adams, clerk Walter West; rural carrier Bill Vandall, rural carrier Millard Adams, city carrier Wayne McIntire, assistant postmaster Verner (Bun) Paschall, clerk Ernest Gray.

Front row: rural carrier Claude Shepherd, city carrier Lyle Foster, substitute rural carrier Pearl Showers, and rural carrier Joe Banker. At the present time (1934) all the above were deceased with the exception of Lyle Foster, who resided at Leisure Manor.