Joseph A Potvin, aka Buckshot at age 55 was appointed United States Postmaster
at Perronville, Michigan, where he served for 8 years before retiring. There is one
rural route out of the office and a Mr. Gerald Bolm served as the rural route
carrier for many years.
A Dedicated Rural Mail Carrier
Gerald Bolm served as a contract mail carrier for many years, too many to count. His motto was simply “deliver the mail”. Not only did he deliver the mail, he also delivered the needs of his patrons; groceries, picking up parts, oxygen tanks, for farmers and loggers, and assisting those who needed immediate help.
His career provided some interesting experiences as time went on. Tom Bartoszek a retired Postmaster of Perronville told me when he had sold his store which contained the post office, while waiting for the license transfer, the furnace malfunctioned, a fire unfortunately burnt down his building. He told me that Jerry provided great assistance in setting up a temporary post office in Tom’s parents’ house that was located next door, until a new building was operational. An example of Jerry’s attributes assisting others.
He experienced some horrifying situations as a mail man. Once he came upon a couple who left a note in the mail box, they chose to commit suicide. They were in their vehicle with a hose hooked to the exhaust pipe and the hose inserted into the vehicle. It was a dramatic scene. He immediately contacted law enforcement and was held there pretty much of his day. He told me a number of times the scene really bothered him.
Years later he came upon a couple, the wife had cancer, the husband had killed her with a gun and then killed himself, it was a gruesome scene. He said he eventually got over the grievance of the first incident and now he was dealing with another.
I tell both stories, because this demonstrates the strong character of Jerry, the ability to deal with these tragic events and still continue to serve his patrons year after year. I worked with Jerry l little over eight years and once in a while, In the morning when he was leaving the post office, he would say I wonder what’s going to happen today.
On the lighter side I will relay some other interesting experiences.
One time while inserting mail in Dale Siegler’s mailbox a bee flew out of it and went down the back of his shirt biting him twice before he pushed against his seat killing the culprit.
Upon arriving at a feisty elderly female customer who lived in a remote area, she was having a time with an eight-point buck. She had fenced her garden to protect her vegetables. The Buck had jumped the fence and feasted. When he tried to exit, he got tangled in the fence. He fought so hard he laid there for a while, worn out. He tried again to no avail. She told him of her dilemma. She said he is pretty much worn out. If you sit on him, Jerry being a big man, I will take a pair of wire cutters and cut the wire out of his horns. Jerry agreed, she cut the wires out, when jerry got off Buck, he jumped up and headed for the woods.
The Cary Boys in Hardwood surprised Jerry with a baby porcupine when he opened the mail box.
As Jerry came upon Gladys Kenny’s mail stop, Gladys was there with her niece’s dog who had a daredevil fish lure anchored in his mouth. Gladys said I will hold dog down and can you cut the barb out of his mouth as I hold him? So, Jerry takes the cutters and removes the lure.
When Gladys retired to her parent’s farm, she got to know Jerry very well. She would always have a sandwich in the mail box for him.
Carlson’s had a pet pig; the pig would actually put its paws up on the side of the pick-up door for a hand out.
One of Jerry’s Patrons was short of money, wanted to get a letter out, he taped 10 cents to the letter and tied two beer cans to the mail box. Jerry stamped the envelope and the mail was delivered.
Upon arriving at Frenchie Bergie’s place he was chasing his rabbit around the car as a weasel was trying to kill his rabbit. I did not write down the results.
Walter Gabor of LaBranche trained his dog to retrieve the mail from Jerry. Recently I spoke to his wife about it. She stated that around the time Jerry would arrive, the dog would sit by the window and wait, when the dog spotted the red pick-up, it would get very excited. They would open the door and the dog would run to Jerry get the mail and bring it in the house and set it down alongside Walter’s chair.
One time Tom Bartoszek along with another postal official doing a route inspection approached the Gabor Home. The dog ran out to get the mail but when he saw it was not Jerry he came back into the house; he would not accept the mail from a stranger.
While I served as Postmaster of Perronville, over the years Jerry would relate these stories and he would ask why are you taking these notes? I said I thought they were interesting and some day I might do something with them. Here I am Jerry.
I have great respect for Jerry, his dedication to his work was insurmountable. His work ethic, ambition, etc. To pick up bulk mail at 6:00 am in Kingsford and deliver to 11 post offices including Niagara, WI to Escanaba. He would pick up his route delivery pick-up, go to Bark River, obtain Perronville, Hardwood, and Foster City Mail and begin his route delivery. After returning to Bark River, he would go to Escanaba, park his pick-up. He would take his large truck, begin at Escanaba and pick-up outgoing mail at each post office on the way to Kingsford. He had an apartment in Kingsford where he would overnight. He did this six days a week. His wife Betty picked up newspapers in Powers and delivered them to Escanaba. She also assisted with overflow mail in Escanaba. They also accumulated newspapers which were used at Celetex in L’Anse. On occasion Jerry would have to bring a truck load to L’Anse in the middle of the night. The bottom line he just enjoyed working.
Schaffer Quips 