Longtime Marmaduke postmaster retires

Randy Jackson

Jackson, a native of Marmaduke, has spent the last 24 years working at his hometown office. He began his USPS employment in Jonesboro, where he started as a mail carrier. During his 11 years at Jonesboro, Jackson worked his way up through the ranks. After serving as a carrier, he went to work as clerk before moving up to management. By the time he left Jonesboro, he had supervised all three tiers of the office. Jackson also has spent time at other post offices in the surrounding areas, serving as officer in charge at Rector, Corning and Ravenden, as needed.

Over the years, Jackson has seen a number of changes occur in both the postal service and the cities in which he worked.

"One (change) that sticks out is the number of increases in the price of a stamp," Jackson said. "I think when I started, stamps were 15 cents. Now, they're 44 cents."

Jackson also noted Marmaduke had two routes when he moved to that office. It since has grown to three routes.

The MHS grad said he also has seen changes in Marmaduke itself.

"Marmaduke's gotten bigger with the factories coming into town," Jackson said. "It went up from 1,800 customers when I started here in 1986 to about 2,700."

While the growth has been good for the office and the community, it didn't come without the occasional difficulties.

"When you have that many customers, it's hard to keep everybody happy," Jackson said. "We always worked hard and did the best we could, but sometimes things just don't turn out like they're supposed to. Overall, I think our customers knew we would do anything we could for them."

Jackson cites his co-workers as being among the most important and memorable parts of his work.

"I had about as good a group of employees as any manager could want. Everybody got along and did their jobs. I give all the credit to the people I worked with. They are a really good group of people."

Jackson says he has been fortunate to meet a lot of people over the years.

"A lot of the customers were people I'd known most of my life, but there are also a lot of folks I met while working in Marmaduke. I've met a lot of people and made friends I wouldn't have if I hadn't worked there."

Jackson says he will miss his coworkers and the customers, but looks forward to spending more time with his family. He and his wife, Debbie, have three adult children with their own families. Jackson says he plans to do more activities with his grandchildren, Emil Luttrell and Zach Jackson. His list of things includes more family fishing outings, as well as learning the game of golf. He also plans to build a shop where he can work on a number of projects.

"When it gets pretty outside, I'll have a lot to keep me busy," Jackson said.