Two Women Mail Carriers Get Medford Post Office Assignments
Features
Medford
Sports
Tribune
SECTION B MEDFORD, OREGON. SUNDAY, JUNE 2. 1963 PAGES 1 to 8
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Mrs. Ernestine Charley, when photographed, was just entering the parcel post truck.
Delivering parcel post is one of her many assignments for the post office. Proof that men
do not object to women invading the field is the shirt she is wearing. Benny Fagone, ,
long time employee, took it off and loaned it to her for the picture. (Knackstcdt Photo)
Feminine forces have invaded another man's world.
The Medford juut office for the first time in its history
has two women foot carriers of the mail.
They are Mrs. Ernestine Charley and Mrs. Sandra
Stine.
The assignments are in keeping with 1 recent
agreement reached by the post office department with
the Letter Carriers and allied associations, handling the
mail. The agreement. Acting Postmaster Al Bradford ex
plained, is an outgrowth of an executive order handed
down about a year ago by President Kennedy. The order
bans any discrimination regarding sex in the hiring
from Civil Service lists. It has been written irto the
Civil Service regulations governing the hiring of post
office personnel.
Were Hired At Substitutes
Mrs. Charley and Mrs. Stine were hired as sub
stitutes. Mrs. Stine from the clerk's list. When the
need for (heir work failed to exist in the area for
which they were hired, they were placed on routes as
foot carriers, an accepted procedure for years for men
employees.
How do the women feel about this? They like It,
both declared yesterday.
Mrs. Stine, interviewed while she distributed mail
at the post office annex before starting forth on her
"appointed rounds," said she liked to be outside, she
liked to visit with people and she wanted to work for
the Civil Service. She finds all these desires fulfilled
in carrying the U.S. Mail.
She has been working for the Medford post office
for one month. She was "well conditioned for some
phases of the job" when she attended school at Oak
Ridge and in Lyndcn, Wash. She walked a mile to
school for most of her education long before President
Kennedy launched his physical fitness program.
Hadn't Been Walking Much
"The trouble is, I haven't been walking much during
the past six years," Mrs. Stine confessed. "There are
sPome aches arid pains with every new Job and I was
bound to have a few."
She was not referring to her feel although she has
not been able to find the kind of walking shoes she
wants. Her complaints were of some muscles she had
forgotten she had during six years of riding wherever
she went.
She was working in a bank in Bakersficld. Calif.,
when she decided to move to Medford and take the
Civil Service examination last December.
She has had "two close calls" with dogs, the woe
of a mail carrier's life, but managed to "bluff them
out," she said. -
Mrs. Charley was not so fortunate when covering
a foot route out of the Central Point branch.
Describes Dog Incident
"It was most humiliating," she described the In
cident. "I have three dogs. They are my hobby. But
this dog just ran out and bit me, not once, but twice,
and ruined my wool trousers. Of course I didn't feel
like a full fledged carrier until 1 had been bitten by
a dog," she added.
Mrs. Charley has been working for the post office
for 11 years. Only the foot route is new to her. She has
one of the most versatile careers in the service. She
started as a substitute for Bob Ellis, rural carrier out of
Central Point. Later she look over Ed Nicols' route
for three months when he retired.
She has carried a mounted route, worked as a post
office clork, and delivered parcel post, the latter is
her favorite post office job, she decided yesterday.
Carried A Foot Route
Mrs. Charley carried a foot route in Medford for
two weeks recently before assuming her current Cen
tral Point assignment. She said she found the "people
quite delighted" with a woman on the rounds. Most of
them asked questions. Did her feet hurt, was her pack
heavy, and how did she get her job?
Mrs. Charley has a daughter and son-in-law attend
ing Fresno State college and she would rather talk about
them than her own accomplishments. Both are going to
be teachers. The daughter, Patsy Edwards, will teach
retarded children, and her husband, John Edwards,
plans to be an agriculture teacher.
"Don't forget I have a son, too," she extended the
interview. "Mike is a sophomore In Eagle Point High
school.'' , . . .
Makes Her Home Here
Mrs. Stine is making her home hore with her
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Klein. Her father is with
the Federal Aviation agency. His reports on his work
influenced her to join the Civil Service, she said. She hs'
glad that she did.
"People have been extremely friendly," she com
mented in answer to anyone who might expect op
position to women mail carriers.
The women do not have uniforms. But uniforms
are now available for women carriers, it is, however,
necessary for them to work three months on regular
four-hour shifts before requesting them, Bradford said.
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Wearing a bright blue slack suit and dark glasses to
protect her .eyes, Mrs. Sandra Stine, finds Medford side
walks Inviting on a May morning, as she delivers the
mail. (Knackstedt Photo)
body Cow Maim
Records
By CLEVE TWITCHELL
Mail Tribune Staff Writer
On the morning of Oct. 15, 1960, a few minutes .
before 8 a.m., Mrs. Miriam Richey started to walk to
the Wildwood store from her home opposite it on
Highway 62, four miles southwest of Prespect.
It was a sunny, clear morning without a cloud in
the sky. As was usual for this hour, Mrs. Richey had
left the house to cross the highway and open her store.
Sho. looked first up the northeasterly stretch of the
highway to see if any traffic was coming. There was
nothing in sight. - 0 i,
Then' Mrs. Richey looked to the southwest and
was startled to see what she described as an immense1
silvery object hovering between 40 and SO feet above
the highway about 1,500 feet from where she was
standing. Later measurements Indicated the object to
be at least 150 feet in diameter. .
Made of Bright Aluminum
Mrs. Richey said the object appeared as if made oP
bright spun aluminum in the shape of two saucers or
hub caps put together lip to lip.She looked at it for
about a minute, debated trying to get closet0, but then
decided to get someone else to come and witness it
too.
She ran to her store and telephoned Mr. and Mrs.
Sherman Poole, whose home was located about 2R0
feet northeast of the store. The Pooles said they would
get in their car and be right down.
The Pooles arrived in about two minutes, and as
their car approached, Mrs. Richey hurried outside to'
meet them. She looked up at the point where she had
seen the large object but saw nothing there.
Had Seen The Object
The Pooles,, coming in their car, had seen the ob
ject, however, and they drew Mrs. Richey's attention
to it. Ths object had left its hovering spot and was
speedily traveling away about a 45 degree angle in a
northwesterly direction. During these few minutes, no
other vehicles went by. It was later theorized that the
object may have started to depart at the moment the
Pooles' car pulled out onto the highway.
Mrs Richey and Mr. and Mrs. Poole are just a
few of about 100 southern Oregonians whose sightings
of unidentified flying objects, UFOs, flying saucers or
whatever you want to call them have been researched
and chronicled by Carroll D. Watson, Shady Cove gift
shop owner.
Watson, who has made the Shady Cove area his
permanent home since 1918, has during the past three
years recorded detailed reports on more than 50 sight
ings of unusual objects in southern Oregon, a few of
them dating back as far as 1950, but most of them ob
served since 1930.
Some Made Around Medford
A few of the observations recorded by Watson were
made around Medford and Ashland, but a great majori
ty of them took place in the Prospect and Shady Cove
areas.
One of the earliest reports in Watson's file was
made by Everett Cushman and Carl Robbins of Trial.
One evening during October of 1950 (the exact date is
not known) the two men were driving on a logging
road in the Crowfoot-Camel Hump region of the Big
Butte creek drainage area when they saw a large red
dish lighted object very close to the ground, if not
actually on it, about a quarter of a mile away. It seemed
to be a solid object, although the brilliance of the light
made it hard to distinguish.
Two hounds who were with the men acted very
scared and kept shaking their heads as if their ears
hurt. Almost immediately after the men saw it, the ob
ject rose straight up 150 to 200 feet, and as it did the.
color changed to an arc welder's blue, then back to a
fire red again as it stopped.
From this point it began to move in a northeast
erly direction, retaining its fire red color and proceed
ing in a forwards and backwards motion similar to that
of a lantern light held by someone while walking.
When it was a half mile away it changed to a blue
color again and made a wide elliptical circle to the
east, eventually disappearing in the vicinity of Mt.
McLoughlin, the tallest peak in the area. The men
heard no sound whatever.
Men Feel Uneasy
When the object returned after making the great
circle, the men felt uneasy, thinking that perhaps they
were being watched by someone in the object. They
were about to leave in a hurry when the UFO disap
peared. They found that the two fnzhtcned hounds had
already left in a hurry. The dogs weren't found until
seven! hours later.
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CARROLL D. WATSON
Records Detailed Reports
Among he more recent sightings is one reported by
Dwiglit Hamilton of 916 East Main st Medford. Five
young men of high school age, including- Hamilton, and
two of grade school age were gathered outdoors al
726 Broad st. on the afternoon of June 9, 1962.
One boy was attempting to view the planet Venus
with a 30 power telescope when he saw an object
shaped like a hub cap, with three spots looking some
thing like portholes near the top and three objects
sticking out of the bottom. Several of the other boys
took turns viewing the object and generally agreed on
the description.
Spend Time Observing OS)i:t
Total time spent observing the object amounted to
20 or 25 minutes. During this time it appeared to
move slowly in various directions, as if possibly ob
serving the city of Medford. When last seen the UFO
was disappearing as several jet planes appeared in the
neighboring sky. The jets left vapor trails. The UFO
didn't. The object disappeared going in a straight up
ward direction.
Watson records his reports of sightings in a de
tailed manner, usually like this:
"Report on UFO: Drnni Mason & Floyd Ehrheart.
Addressrv Rogue River Drive, Shady Cove, Oregon.
"Observation Area: North bank of Rogue River
less than ;14 miles down river from Shady Cove.
"Observation Date: 15th or 16th or 17th of June,
1962.
"These two 16-year-old boys were fishing just after
sundown when both sew about 200 yeards downstream
a red (ircball like object coming slowly up the river
just above the tree tops of the river's north side. It
was round, made no noise, and was about the 'size
of a beach ball.'
"The boys ran upriver to tell their parents about
what they had seen but the object had soon passed out
of ight bihind intervening trees. It was headed north
west and was observable for a period of time up to 10
seconds.
"The evening sky was clear."
Examines Every Possibility
When inveiigating reports of UFO sightings. Wat
Kin first examines every possibility of explaining the
object observed in earthly terms. He checks with the
weather bureau to find out if any weather balloons
were m the area at that time, or to determine what
yiF Sightings
time the moon rose that particular night, or even to in
quire about the temperature at a certain elevation at a
particular hour on a particular date.
His concern for precise details has earned him a
little ribbing by certain friends who have been heard
to remark that "if you want to know what the tem
perature was a 5,000 feet elevation at 8:32 a.m. Sept. '
4;: 1962, just ask Carroll Watson." . '
Watson's care in obtaining precise details la par
ticularly evident in reports like this one: , , ,
"Report on UFO: Gene Ash. Address: Shady Cove,
Oregon.
"Observer's Area: Section 20 T33S R1W (About
" one mile from Tiller Trail Highway and up Canyon
Ci feck). ' .. ' o , : ' '
"UFO Area: Southwest quarter of Section 22 T33S '
R1W. Ridge between drainages of Trail Creek and
Lewis Creek on the East.
"Sighting Dale: Oct. 28, IflfiO at 4:00 p.m.
Driving Forest Pumper Tiuck
"Gene was driving a slate forest patrol pumper
truck on the 'mine' road up Canyon Creek when he
chanced to look out of the car window towards the
northeast. He saw a very bright silver object (his
words: 'like a stubbed off cigar ) hovering motionless
and noiseless about 200-300 feci above a ridge saddle
around 2Vi miles away o Gene estimated it to be 20-30
feet in length and 30 inches thick as seen in per
spective. "The object never moved for 20-25 minutes; then
H slowly raised foP a short distance without tipping,
and again without tipping it slowly floated down out
of sight into the Lewis Creek canyon area near the
old abandoned Tom Adams cabin.
"Gene watched the area for about one hour longer
but saw nothing more of the UFO.
"Notes: When all factors are considered, the size
of the UFO was probably considerably larger than in
dicated above.
Afternoon Sky Was Clear
"The afternoon sky was clear except for a few
high clouds. It had rained that morning.
"UFO area is of about 2,500 feet elevation."
Watson was born In Spokane, Wash.,in 1908. Me
was educated at schools in California and al the Uni
versity of Oregon, and served with the combat engi
neers in Europe during World War II.
When flying saucers started In make newspaper
headlines in 1947, he didn't pay much attention to them.
But as the years went by, friends for whom he had
great respect told him of their sightings and he began
to think that there must be something to the UFO field
something worthy of investigation.
"You have to consider all possible natural explan
ations," Watson feels, "such as hallucinations or tem
perature Inversions, and you have to consider the char
acter of the person making the sighting.'' .
Reports 'Defy Natural Explanations' .
Watson is quick to add thai he has high respect tor
the character of those persons whose sightings he has
chronicled and thinks that most ot tho objects sighted
in these reports , "defy natural explanation."
"These people . know they've seen something," he.
concluded.
i What does Watson think they migljt be? "They're
from somewhere." he comments. "Having heard many
people, Including numerous retired military officers,
voice the opinion Hint these UFOs are of extra-terrestrial
origin, I am. of the opinion thai they must be from out-.-rr
space, propelled by a power that we know nothing
about."
Has Watson ever seen one himself? He figures in
three of the reports. On the evening of Sept. 18, 1961.
shortly before 10 p.m. he and his daughter Shcri, both
saw a bright object for about eight seconds making a
steady downward descent in the north northeast sky. '
It was brighter than the brightest star in tho heavens,
moved too fast for a plane and too slow for a meteor.
The sky was partially cloudy, Watson said. Few stars
could be seen. The moon was high in the southern sky.
Over High Rock Formation
Watson and his wife, Evalyn, observed an object about
three times the size of a star on the night of April 17,
1962, at 9:53 p.m. It hung over a high rock formation
about three miles north of Shady Cove for about four
seconds after they first noticed it. Then It went out
instantaneously.
Finally, on June 29, 1962, about 9:35 p.m., the
Watsons got in on the tail end of a sighting made by
their next door neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Al Cooper and
their daughter Joanne of an intense red light, bright
er than the type used by conventional aircraft. The
object appeared to be about three miles away, but made
no sound. In contrast, a conventional airplane at a
higher altitude and apparently farther away came into
view during the observation period, and its sound
could be heard clearly.
Watson plans to go on compiling reports of UFO
sightings as long as there are people willing to tell
him about them. He urges anyone who has made a
sighting to contact him. His address la simply Shady
Cove, Oregon.
3
This is not an actual photo of an unidentified flying object, but rather an artist's con
ception, drawn on a photograoh taken at the spot where Mrs. Miriam Richey reported
seeing a large silvery object on Highway 82 about four miles southwest of Prospect on
Oct. 15, 196(1. This sighting is one of more than 50 recorded In rrport form by Carroll
Watson of Shady Cove. He and Mrs. Richey drew In the object to give an idea of the lm
mene site of the object she saw.