hickey.html

The Mt. Adams Sun, Bingen, WA., November 24, 1960, page 8
Includes portrait

GLENWOOD MAIL STAGE DRIVER TRUE TO POSTOFFICE MOTTO FOR 25 YEARS

"Not snow, nor rain, nor heat ,nor gloom of night stays these couriers form the swift completion of their appointed rounds." (Heroditus 484 - 424 B.C.)

On Oct. 31 Lloyd W. Hickey made his last trip as driver of the Glenwood mail stages. During the past 24¼ years, Lloyd has driven 569,088 miles, made 10, 944 daily trips and failed to get through only once.
That was when he pulled his stage off the road to lead to Paul Krauss past to take Gloria Ladiges to a doctor. The stage mired down in deep snow. By the time of Lloyd got back on the road, the hour was too late to make his round trip.
Lloyd came to Glenwood 48 years ago and bought his place in 1920. He started driving the Wyers Glenwood stage on July 15, 1936. Leaving Glenwood at 7 a.m., he usually completes the 76-mile round trip by 4 p.m..

RUGGED TRIPS

There have been many rugged trip. One of the worst in Lloyd's memory was the big blizzard of January 13, 1950.
Another harrowing experience occurred when his stage was shoved off Kreps' Lane, east of Laurel, by a big ice floe. Lloyd was following a role of stakes which marked the submerged road when the big cake struck his truck.
George Gilmer came to his rescue with a team-drawn stone boat. When the two men got off the stone boat to harness the team to the truck, this sled floated off across the flooded valley.
Undismayed, George hooked his team to the stage and pulled Lloyd out.
In the past 25 years, Lloyd ran up a remarkable safety record of only one accident. That happened when a kid with a heavy foot rounded the Paul Kuhnhausen corner too fast and collided with the stage.

ROADS BETTER

The road from Glenwood to White Salmon has shown continual improvement since Lloyd started driving stage. In fact there is no comparison between and then and now, Lloyd says.
He gives former county commissioner Steve Wnuk credit for starting progress by rocking and paving across Glenwood Valley and on Oak Ridge. The Kreps and Kuntz lanes, the latter from Diamond's corner into Laurel, have been converted from drainage trenches.
Both lanes have been lifted out of the mud by raising them three feet with a solid rock foundation.

PATRONS SMARTER

There are as many patrons on the Glenwood route now has ever, Lloyd says. For instance, at one time he used to leave 18 mail sacks that Horn's Mill. Most of them left years ago, but new patrons have replaced them at the White Salmon end of the star route.
Lloyd has observed another trend. Years ago Christmas mail pyramided a week or two before Christmas. After filling the inside of his stage, Lloyd had to strap the overload to his lowered tail gate.
Now, due to better foresight by postal patrons, the holiday mail rush is spread over six to eight weeks. As a consequence the loads are lighter.
When asked what he is going to do, Lloyd answered: "Just as little as I have to. There's plenty of work at home to keep me busy this winter. Then we hope to travel a little. Now that I don't have to get up so early, I expect to attend meetings of the White Salmon Masons and Eastern Star more often.
Lloyd also wants to correct a rumor that he retired because he was getting so old that Wyers stage was going to take him out and shoot him.
"I quit voluntarily," he says, "And my son Lloyd took over where I left off."
The new driver is Lloyd J. Hickey, 24, married and father of the 2½ year old son.
Lloyd W. is confident that Lloyd J. knows the ropes.
In fact he was raised on it. Lloyd W. started taking Lloyd J. with him when the latter was only 2½ years old. When the boy got sleepy, his father wrapped him up in a coat and tucked him behind the driver's seat.
Now it's time for Lloyd W. to take a snooze when he feels like it, or stay up late to look up the moon. After all he's driven the Glenwood stage for a distance equivalent to the moon and back.
Lloyd has a good word for his wife Edith. They were married June 15, 1935 in Goldendale and celebrated their Silver Wedding anniversary on this date last June; and to his son and daughter who have also been a great help in the hard pinches.
He also pays grateful tribute to "the finest and most understanding patrons of my stage route - and last but not least, the fine Post Office personnel I have worked with."