Postman Andy Corr Retires

Next Tuesday morning the mail boxes in Lowell and Leverett will be opened as usual about 9:30 or 10 and a uniformed arm will reach in to place the usual bills, letters, circulars, and postcards in the little cubbyholes. But sharp-eyed members of these Houses will note that for the first time in 22 years, the boxes will opened by a new man, and the hand under the uniform will be different. For veteran letter carrier Andy Corr is retiring after bringing Bellboys and Bunnies news from home for over 20 years.

At one time during his 39 years and 3 months of total post office service, he knew Harvard men personally, and he and his addressees were the best of friends. "There has been a change in attitude," Andy laments. "Students don't get acquainted with the letter carrier any more." In the old days, he remembers, "they would be waiting for the letter carrier." But tossing his regrets for the past aside, the retiring postman admits that the student body has improved since the days when he first started to deliver mail to Harvard. "They seem to be more industrious boys today," he says; in his early days here, "you used to meet students at all hours," while now he sees them hardly at all.

One way Andy used to meet students was to sell them tickets for the Postman's Ball, held yearly for the Mutual Benefit Association. "I walked into a room one year," he recalls, "and the fellows wouldn't buy. When I walked in the next year they were playing poker, so I put down three tickets, and took the money out of the pot." Fearful of his persuasive tactics, many students would be expecting him and "they'd run in the closet and under the beds." The CRIMSON at one time complained against the coercive tactics of a Dunster House mailman, but Andy denies that he did more than persuade people to buy.

In those days Andy used to enjoy student hospitality--many would invite him up to their rooms for refreshment. A fellow with the improbable name of Ducky Pond in M-entry of Lowell House who had a bar in his room used to be especially nice to him. "'There was always an invitation there for the letter-carrier," Andy recalls; "they had quite a session there at one spring dance. There was a room for punch, a room for beer, and a room for liquor. I went into the liquor room and they handed me a half-glass of whiskey--they had quite a session. The party wound up, they'd go to the dance, and I went home to my wife."

But for the past few years, the Lowell-Leverett postman's life has been a lot more than sessions with half-filled whiskey glasses. Deliveries have been cut from three to two to one, and thus "the loads are getting heavier all the time."

Heavier Loaus

Years ago, when Andy was delivering mail in Fresh Pond, he would report at 7:20 in the morning, make two deliveries and then enjoy a two-hour layoff from 12:40 to 2:40 p.m. He would then make his afternoon delivery, and go home at 5 p.m. Nowadays he must be at the post office at 6:15 a.m. and work until 2:45 p.m. with a half hour off for lunch. "You're supposed to sit on the curbstone and eat your lunch," he laments. He also must get up at 5 in the morning, which means he goes to bed at 9 every night so he can get enough rest.

Now, however, he is getting tired. He will try to get a light job somewhere, since he is "a little too active" just to "sit around the house." Andy has been ill for the past few days, but even though he has some vacation and sick leave due him, he plans to come to work before he officially retires on September 30. "I thought I'd want to go back and say good-bye to my many friends," he explains.

His reason for retiring? "I've served 39 years and 3 months here. I've been getting up at five in the morning, and I thought I'd like a little change in life so I could get out in the evening and see what people do between 10 and 11 o'clock."