Dean Varney closes the door on his delivery truck — serial number 9202882 — at the United States Post Office on Washington Avenue in La Grande on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021. Varney is retiring and will make his last delivery on Christmas Eve.

LA GRANDE — Dean Varney does not know which home on his La Grande route will be the last one he will deliver mail to on Christmas Eve.

But Varney, a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier, does know this — it will be a delivery to remember.

Varney will make his final delivery on Friday, Dec. 24, likely around 4 p.m. after delivering to the homes, apartments and business on his west La Grande route, which runs from Pioneer Park south to the vicinity of Grande Ronde Hospital.

“It will be at the end of an emotional day,” he said.

The delivery will cap a career during which Varney has walked about 57,000 miles while doing his 10-mile route, the equivalent of circling the Earth more than twice.

The “globe trekking” has not taken a toll on Varney — he has called in sick about as often as history buffs discover envelopes with old postmarks from ghost towns in Northeastern Oregon. Varney estimates that he has missed just five days since starting work as a letter carrier in 1998.

“I feel like we are a team and I would be letting the team down if I missed work,” he said.

More than postal customers

La Grande Postmaster Kelly Carreiro said Varney is remarkably dedicated.

“He’s a real workhorse. If his name is on the schedule, he will be at work,” he said.

Varney is a workhorse who is as popular with his customers as a Kentucky Derby winner at Churchill Downs. Carrero said Varney is so well liked that many times when people on his route call La Grande’s post office to complain about something, they make a point, without being asked, of emphasizing that Varney is not linked to anything they are complaining about.

“They really care about him,” Carreiro said.

Varney has 850 homes and businesses on his route.

“They are my extended family,” he said.

It is a family the letter carrier hands more than mail to — he also offers a hand of assistance when possible.

For example, he has changed light bulbs for people facing physical challenges and provided encouraging words to those who appear upset or lonely. He also has helped people get access to their food. Varney recalled that once a woman greeted him with a jar of pickles. He mistakenly thought it was a gift.

“Then, she said, ‘I’ve been waiting for you all day. Will you open this?’” Varney said.

The letter carrier was touched when a senior on his route, who was moving to an assisted care center, insisted that he attend his going-away party.

Varney said he is keenly aware that mail carriers can be the only people many homebound individuals get to communicate with.

“We are the one point of contact some people have during the day,” he said.

The mail carrier also enjoys speaking with the younger people on his route. Varney noted that recently an 18-year-old told Varney he is the only postman he remembers having.

“I told him, ‘I remember when your mom and dad brought you home from the hospital,’” he said.

Military career

Varney joined the postal service after a 12-year career in the U.S. Army as a helicopter pilot. He was first stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska, where he made many flights to rescue people climbing 20,000-foot Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in the United States.

He later was transferred to the Middle East where he flew a helicopter during Operation Desert Storm, when the United States was part of a coalition that pushed Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. Varney never found himself under enemy fire but he was threatened on flights by shrapnel from exploding SCUD missiles that flew at his helicopter.

Varney, who saw some of his friends killed during Operation Desert Storm, emerged from the military unscathed, but with a strong desire to establish roots in a community, something that attracted him to the postal service.

“I had 12 addresses in nine years while in the military. This job gives me an opportunity to go back to the same home every night,” he said.

Varney said serving as an Army helicopter pilot has few similarities to working as a mail carrier.

“They both have cerebral challenges but other than that they are worlds apart,” he said.

Some told Varney that working as a mail carrier would be stressful, However, he said that the tension he experienced as a military helicopter pilot, where he sometimes flew at treetop level in the dark while wearing night vision goggles, was far greater than what he has experienced as a letter carrier.

“I’m not feeling the stress,” he said.

A rough beginning

Varney has delivered mail on his route — named City Route 4 — for 12 years. Prior to taking over the route from Lyle Jensen, who is now retired and still lives in La Grande, Varney was a substitute carrier, filling in for all of La Grande’s five city routes. The position was particularly challenging because Varney often found himself doing routes he was unfamiliar with.

“That was much more difficult than what I’m doing now,” he said.

The world is a different place than it was when Varney first started as a letter carrier, and the items delivered by postal workers reflects this. He said that, when he started, only 20-30 of his deliveries were packages each day. Those days are gone forever.

“Today that number is unheard of,” he said.

Varney said on average he delivers four times the number of parcels he first did — and during the Christmas season, he delivers well over 200 parcels a day. He also said the number of packages he delivers has jumped since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

“The pandemic put online shopping into a whole new gear,” he said.

The huge increase in packages is making the job of mail carriers more challenging because their trucks are not big enough for a large quantity of parcels. Carriers often have to make return trips to the post office to pick up packages while doing their routes. It also means that it takes longer to load trucks because packages must be packed in a precise manner to make efficient use of space. Varney said he has enormous respect for the professionalism and dedication La Grande’s mail carriers have shown in dealing with the issue.

“We have an amazing staff,” he said.

A ‘bittersweet’ day

Varney said he picked Christmas Eve as his last day for two reasons.

“I didn’t want to leave at the peak of the season, and I wanted to give myself a Christmas present,” he said.

Varney is looking forward to spending more time with his family, including his wife, Michelle, and daughters, Shylinn and Emily. Varney noted that Shylinn and her husband, Michael Baty, are expecting their first child in January. It is Varney’s first grandchild.

Varney, who lives in Imbler, is also looking forward to operating a small hobby farm and traveling with his wife. Despite what he has to look forward to, he knows that he will feel a wide range of feelings on Christmas Eve.

“It will be bittersweet. I am leaving my team, partners and an old neighborhood,” he said, “but I will be starting a new chapter of my life, which I am excited about.”