Back in the days when Safeway was Evergreen’s largest grocery store, it was as much a hub for gabbing with friends as shopping for groceries. Most of us factored in time for long-winded chats knowing grocery shopping was, if not the first mission, clearly the second.
The Evergreen Post Office, in operation since 1876, also served as a multifunctional place to visit with neighbors or cultivate new friendships as you picked up mail from your post office box, or waited in line for the litany of services offered at the desk. Dan Nuchols, celebrating his 50th year as an Evergreen resident, often bantered with friends as well as strangers at both settings.
“ …I can still recall people’s PO Box numbers as easily as I can their names.”
Dan shares, “I got out of the U.S. Navy in 1973 and started working nights at what was then called Coors Porcelain (originally known as The Herold China and Pottery Company, renamed Coors Porcelain Company and now known as CoorsTek). I decided to take the postal tests, thinking my hours would be better for my two daughters and then first wife. When I passed the test, I was offered a job at the post offices in Fort Collins or Evergreen. The beauty of Evergreen won, hands down. I can’t say my hours were much better when I started my first position as a postal clerk. I had to get up at 3:30 am to get to Evergreen to meet the postal truck at 5 am. I worked my way up to be a window clerk, then became the bulk mail supervisor and passport supervisor.”
Dan handled mail that came through to the common folk as well as the illustrious stars who called Evergreen home, including Merel Bregante, drummer for Loggins and Messina, all of the members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, who lived in the area, and, of course, Willie Nelson, who once called Evergreen home. Somehow his millions of fans learned that fact. Dan divulges, “Fan letters came in by the thousands, which were picked up by his father-in-law and occasionally his wife, Connie.”
March 31, 1981 was an infamous day that citizens of the world, and especially Evergreen residents, will never forget. “That was the day President Ronald Reagan was shot,” Dan remembers. “Within minutes after Reagan was shot, secret service stormed into the Evergreen Post Office because the shooter, John Hinckley Jr., had lived in Evergreen with his family. None of us knew Reagan had been shot. The agents who filed into the post office were all wearing trench coats, as did their leader, who also wore a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap. He then put his badge in my face and said, ‘I want to see your postmaster.’ Instantly I recognized John’s face when I saw him on the news that night. I waited on him a few times and remembered him being quite cocky. I had also waited on his parents and remembered both being very nice people. The agent then claimed, ‘Today, Evergreen has been put on the map. John Hinckley Jr. shot President Reagan.’ My blood turned cold. Those were the days long before cellphones and Google Maps apps. The agents had the Hinckley’s home address, but didn’t know how to get there, so they demanded that the postmaster ‘get in the car. You’re going to direct us to the Hinckley house.’ Just about that same time, helicopters flew in by the masses, and semis from prominent news sources poured into Evergreen. It was unforgettable. It was certainly not the first or last time the FBI, DEA, and other plain clothes detectives came into the post office with the need for us to help them find addresses to continue their sleuthing of those wanted by the law.”
With Evergreen’s steady growth, the post office moved from the facility where Dan first started to their new facility where it stands today. It was then the passport supervisor was faced with unforgettable atrocities that included identifying faces of people who had applied and had their picture taken for their passports. “One man falsified his identification, taking on the name of a dead man. When he applied for the passport, he left without completing his passport application. When I called the telephone number he provided, it was disconnected. Three secret service agents met with me and the postmaster in hopes that we could identify him. There was an ongoing stakeout for the guy. We alerted all of the window clerks that he might return, which he did, and he came directly to my window. My heart was pounding because agents were behind the wall waiting for this guy for days,” Dan recounts.
Another one of Dan’s amazing memories is when a woman passed out at the post office. “I immediately gave her CPR. The paramedics thanked me profusely for giving her CPR, and her son and husband also thanked me. Her son, who was in training at West Point, flew in to be with her. Sadly, she died five days later. The Jefferson County Sheriff gave me a citation award, but what forever stood out to me due to that experience is broadcasting the importance that everyone should be CPR certified. You never know when you might have to help someone. The Good Samaritan Act protects those who administer CPR at the scene of an emergency without personal injury liability for their actions.”
Of suspect packages that pass through post offices, Dan declares, “Many tried to mail marijuana back in the 80s and 90s, perhaps out of stupidity not knowing the stench it reeks.”
Among the many talents Dan amassed throughout his over four decades of service is his uncanny ability to match names of postal patrons with their post office box numbers. “I’ve been retired over a decade, but I can still recall people’s PO Box numbers as easily as I can their names.” When I asked if there was a PO Box #1, Dan laughs and claims, “Yup, there’s a PO Box #1 and it comes with a funny story. It belonged to a married couple who decided to divorce. Both wanted custody of PO Box #1. The wife came into the post office with her attorney who requested we show him the paperwork when they applied for the box. As it turned out, the wife signed for the box. It was she who was granted PO Box #1.”
Much has changed over the decades, including the post office’s demand for uniformity. Dan reveals, “When I first started, the post office was decorated with plants and art. Dennie Ibbotson, an awesome woodworking artist, carved an amazing sign for the Evergreen Post Office that hung among a variety of plants and a Marion Robertson watercolor. When I retired, the postmaster asked me what I wanted for a retirement gift. I asked for Dennie’s sign. I will forever treasure it.”
What Dan most treasures of his years working for the Evergreen Post Office was meeting his wife. “It was love at first sight when Melanie Warsinske walked into the post office.” I’ve known Dan and Mel for decades, and the bond of love between them deserves a story all its own. They definitely define the meaning of my other column title, “The Serenity of Love.”
