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Instead of getting chased by rowdy dogs, John Reynolds had his pick between bears, coyotes and plenty of other creatures (not actually, but imagine!)

Who is he? John Reynolds was the postmaster for Yosemite National Park in California, serving over 40 years in the Yosemite and El Portal Post Offices. This week, he retired from the position.

  • Reynolds started his career in the summer of 1978 as a college student. After a casual visit to his mother at work, (who happened to be a 43-year employee of the Yosemite Post Office), he was offered a summer job. Is there a gene for mail?
  • A true (and rare!) area local, Reynolds was born and raised in Yosemite Valley, with parents that both worked in the park.
  • He worked many different roles in the post offices of the area:, first as a clerk, and eventually becoming the postmaster for neighboring town El Portal in 2004. In 2012, he achieved his dream of becoming Postmaster for the Yosemite Post Office, the position he is now retiring from.
  • John and his wife Christine lived and raised their family in the area, even residing in the postmaster's house, a job perk that is limited to just a handful of U.S. post offices, including Yosemite, Yellowstone, and The Grand Canyon


Listen to NPR's interview with Reynolds by hitting the play button at the top.


A local legend. You might not know many people from this part of the U.S. but John's impact was widely felt in his community.

Family friend and Yosemite local, Micole Mccarthy, shared this story with us:

"I was 17 years old and was really feeling the isolation that can come with growing up in such a remote area. So for me, one of the bright spots of that summer was the release of J.K. Rowling's final installment of the Harry Potter book series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." I had preordered the book online and didn't realize that the release and corresponding delivery date of the book was on a Saturday.

Our post office was typically closed for package pick ups. I only realized it a couple of days before and I was completely devastated. So imagine my surprise when I woke up on Saturday morning to a call from John, telling me he was opening the post office for a couple of hours, so the handful of locals who'd ordered the book could come in and get their copies the same day that everyone else in the U.S. was getting theirs as well. I was so excited I jumped out of bed and immediately ran down to the post office. He said he knew how important this day was to some of us and he was happy to do it."

What does he have to say about himself?

"Some of my first memories as a clerk, working with the postmaster, is going down to a spot on Highway 140, which is the main entrance coming into the park. There was a rockslide. And we wanted to get the mail in and without delay. So the mail truck drove up the closest road to the rockslide. And we bucket brigaded across the rocks. I mean, handing the bags [of mail]. We were jumping across the rocks.

That's what I took pride in. Mother Nature, and overcoming, and trying to get mail into the park because people count on their mail. People look to the post office and their mail as a normalization.

When Mother Nature does kick in, it stresses people out and gives a great anxiety. The Post Office and having their mail gives the sense that I've learned over the years, a sense of anchor, a sense of normalcy.

So I think that's the biggest pride that I took in my job, is doing that, getting the mail in such an isolated place."


Want more stories about interesting people? Listen to the Consider This episode with Pamela Anderson.


So, what now?

  • John and Christine first plan to move out of the Postmaster's house into their own place nearby.
  • Despite having lived in the area his entire life, he says there is plenty of back country he'd still like to explore.
  • Then, there's time to enjoy retirement. The Reynolds will be traveling to Europe, and John plans on taking lots of road trips, "unencumbered by a time schedule" , on his motorcycle.

Want to read about other cool people?

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Transcript

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

Often, folks dream of traveling to beautiful places once they retire. But what happens if you retire from working in one of the most stunning spots in the U.S. - Yosemite National Park? John Reynolds might characterize the location a little bit differently, as zip code 95389. He's stepping down after 40 years working with the post office in and around Yosemite, and he joins us now. John, welcome to the show.

JOHN REYNOLDS: Thank you very much.

DETROW: I'd ask you about when you started working there, but I understand your connection with Yosemite goes back a little bit further - all the way to the day you were born. Is that right?

REYNOLDS: That's correct. I grew up in a little town about 15 miles from where you're speaking to me now, in the little town of El Portal. It's a place that - until I got the job in the post office, I really took it for granted as far as the iconic views that everybody cherishes so much. And, you know, it was just my backyard.

DETROW: You just thought everybody has such stunning views out the window where they live?

REYNOLDS: But of course, yeah. I never gave it a second look.

DETROW: Yosemite National Park posted about your retirement recently and celebrating your years in the park, and there was one comment from Micole McCarthy that caught our attention. We got in touch with her. Here's what she told us.

MICOLE MCCARTHY: It was the summer of 2007. I was 17 years old and was really feeling the isolation that can come with growing up in such a remote area. So for me, one of the bright spots of that summer was the release of J.K. Rowling's final installment of the "Harry Potter" book series. I had pre-ordered the book online and didn't realize that the release and corresponding delivery date of the book was on a Saturday - a day our post office was typically closed for package pickups. So imagine my surprise when I wake up on Saturday morning to a call from John telling me he was opening the post office for a couple of hours so the handful of locals who'd ordered the book could come in and get their copies the same day that everyone else in the U.S. was getting theirs as well.

DETROW: She told us that she was so surprised, she ran to the post office in her pajamas.

REYNOLDS: Well, as much as I would like to praise myself for doing such a good deed, I think somewhat it was self-serving because I was a big Harry Potter fan myself. I think my copy or my children's copy were there, too...

DETROW: Ah.

REYNOLDS: ...So I was happy to do that. And, you know, I think that's indicative of living in a place like Yosemite and the small community that we have. You know, somebody gives me a call that they need their package or - ah, John, can you come down and - not a problem. I'm happy to do that sort of thing because I think that's the goodwill that we want to promote.

DETROW: Any other ways that being a postmaster around a national park is different than the typical job? You know, are there black bears that chase you on the route instead of dogs or, you know, anything like that?

REYNOLDS: No, nothing so exciting and adventurous as that. I think, you know, what makes it interesting at a national park - Mother Nature and overcoming and trying to get mail into the park because people look to the post office and their mail as a normalization. When Mother Nature does kick in and - you know, it stresses people out and gives a great anxiety. And so the post office and having their mail gives a sense of anchor - a sense of normalcy.

DETROW: Well, so what are you going to do next? Are you going to load up an RV and drive east into traffic jams around cities or something?

REYNOLDS: (Laughter).

DETROW: What's the plan?

REYNOLDS: Yeah, man, that's exactly what I'm going to do. No, you know, the thing that makes me smile the most, I think, is - my motorcycle has been winking at me to hop on and to do some road trips that are unencumbered by a time schedule. And also, believe it or not, being born here, there's a lot of my backyard - a lot of the trails that I want to see that I haven't seen. And while I'm still standing and able to walk, I'm going to try to explore some of the backcountry that I've been wanting to do for so many years.

DETROW: Well, John, it sounds like you are going to make the most of your retirement. Thank you so much for talking to us today. I really enjoyed the conversation.

REYNOLDS: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.

DETROW: That's John Reynolds, who just retired from his job as postmaster in Yosemite National Park.

(SOUNDBITE OF TUPAC SHAKUR'S "CALIFORNIA LOVE (FEAT. DR. DRE)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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