A New Address
In a previous post, I said I'm from Partridge, Kansas, and detailed where I've lived in the Partridge area and elsewhere. I also noted that I was actually born at a hospital in Hutchinson while my parents lived in a home with a Partridge address. This post is about the time the address where I lived changed, even though we didn't move.
This little detail about where I'm from reveals something of my parents' values. It has to do with the mailing address at the place that is now known as 3015 S. Partridge Road, Partridge, KS. It's the farm where my parents lived for more than 40 years.
During the years of my earliest memories of such things, that place had this address: Route 1, Hutchinson, KS. Much later, each rural road was given a name and each residence was given a number, or at least at some point signs went up and residents were notified.
I don't remember the exact scenario, but I think my parents got wind that the Partridge post office would be in a stronger position within the US Postal Service system if they were serving more people. So my dad not only petitioned to be served by the Partridge post office instead of the Hutchinson one, he contacted many neighbors personally to solicit their transfer as well. Many of them did so.
On the Yoder mile (Riverton Road), people had divided loyalties apparently. Although everyone there now has a Partridge address, at first, only the ones on the west side of the road agreed to the transfer. The head of each household on the west side of the road was born in this community. The ones on the east side were not. Because of different memory reservoirs, I suspect that the level of commitment to the Partridge community may have varied as well. I'm not sure when the switch was made.
To understand what this says about my parents' values, you should understand that the Hutchinson post office is about 12 miles from the Partridge Road address, and the city has a population of about 41,000. Partridge and its post office is 3 1/4 miles away and has a population of about 250. Small and local obviously was valued over bigger and "better." I believe also that my parents had a strong sense that looking out for one's neighbors is important. Although my parents' lives would not have been very directly affected if the Partridge Post Office had closed because of insufficient mail volume, many neighbors' lives would have been affected far more adversely. For these reasons, I believe that Dad was happy to invest minimally if others could benefit maximally as a result.
These values must have seeped into my own pores. For some reason at least, they make perfect sense to me and have, in fact, informed my own choices.
This little detail about where I'm from reveals something of my parents' values. It has to do with the mailing address at the place that is now known as 3015 S. Partridge Road, Partridge, KS. It's the farm where my parents lived for more than 40 years.
During the years of my earliest memories of such things, that place had this address: Route 1, Hutchinson, KS. Much later, each rural road was given a name and each residence was given a number, or at least at some point signs went up and residents were notified.
I don't remember the exact scenario, but I think my parents got wind that the Partridge post office would be in a stronger position within the US Postal Service system if they were serving more people. So my dad not only petitioned to be served by the Partridge post office instead of the Hutchinson one, he contacted many neighbors personally to solicit their transfer as well. Many of them did so.
On the Yoder mile (Riverton Road), people had divided loyalties apparently. Although everyone there now has a Partridge address, at first, only the ones on the west side of the road agreed to the transfer. The head of each household on the west side of the road was born in this community. The ones on the east side were not. Because of different memory reservoirs, I suspect that the level of commitment to the Partridge community may have varied as well. I'm not sure when the switch was made.
To understand what this says about my parents' values, you should understand that the Hutchinson post office is about 12 miles from the Partridge Road address, and the city has a population of about 41,000. Partridge and its post office is 3 1/4 miles away and has a population of about 250. Small and local obviously was valued over bigger and "better." I believe also that my parents had a strong sense that looking out for one's neighbors is important. Although my parents' lives would not have been very directly affected if the Partridge Post Office had closed because of insufficient mail volume, many neighbors' lives would have been affected far more adversely. For these reasons, I believe that Dad was happy to invest minimally if others could benefit maximally as a result.
These values must have seeped into my own pores. For some reason at least, they make perfect sense to me and have, in fact, informed my own choices.
posted by Miriam Iwashige at
6:52 AM
2 Comments:
Commenting on why the east side of the road chose to stay with a Hutchinson address; my memory of my mother in law's explanation when we moved here was that she didn't want to go to the hassle of doing all the address changes! And she was the local one in the household.... Jo
By
Anonymous, at 5/27/2019
Jo, your memory matches with mine mostly, except that I heard from my dad that not wanting to hassle with the address changes was the issue, and I thought he was quoting Barbara's husband--who I now know was probably quoting Barbara. The sentiment from A-- didn't make sense to me outside of being influenced by his "foreigner" identity. I think it does make sense though if he was deferring to his wife, who I would guess had more opinions on such matters than he did.
By
Miriam Iwashige, at 5/27/2019
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