Bethel’s long-standing postmaster retired at the end of September. Alan Murphy was just nine days short of 51 years of service with the United States Postal Service, a journey that took him from Montana to Alaska and across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. KYUK sat down with Murphy to talk about his decades at the helm of one of the most important post offices in the state.
KYUK (Evan Erickson): Can you start by telling us a little about yourself and what brought you out to Bethel?
Alan Murphy: What brought me to Bethel? Well, that went back years before I even got into the [U.S.] Postal Service. I came up here in [19]68, [19]68 or [19]69, came up from Montana, spent time with my brother here, went to work here. I worked on the barges with United Transportation, not on the barges, but when they unloaded the steamship. That was the last year the steamship ran. And then I went from there. I ran the liquor store until I left in [19]72, , or [19]70, [19]69… back in there anyway. I ran it for a couple years, and then I left and went back to Montana. A guy invited me to come and take over his store for him on the Fort Belknap Reservation in Hayes, Montana. Came back up the next year, got married, left with my wife, Lucy from Kwethluk, and then we went down there. We ended up selling the store. But before I sold the store, I became a clerk in the post office too. That's where I started my career at. And then we spent time in Hayes, Havre, Billings, Montana, and East Glacier.
My wife now, I had her outside for 16 years. And after 16 years there was an opening come up here in [19]88 for the Bethel post office. So I took the supervisor job. I was postmaster in East Glacier at the time, and my wife did not want to leave that beautiful country. She enjoyed it there. We were away from everybody. The kids had a good time there. It was great there. We had no problems with anybody. And then from there, we got up here, and then after [being] a supervisor for two years, I became postmaster in [19]90. And that's where I'm finishing up my career with, I'll be short nine days of 51 years with the [U.S.] Postal Service.
KYUK: How important do you think the [U.S.] Postal Service is for this country?
Murphy: For Alaska, it is very important, very definitely important. [In the] lower 48, yes, you got your rural communities in a lot of the areas. So it is still important for the people.
KYUK: What do you think makes it most important in Alaska?
Murphy: Well, you're able to get the stuff out here that, cost has gone up on the stuff, freight’s up. So send the smaller stuff, the lighter stuff, keep it under the one size, and it's still pretty good for us. But the post office actually loses money in Alaska. We do not make any money up in Alaska.
KYUK: Is it still an attractive career path for young people?
Murphy: Young people can get in and stay, if they want to stay. It's the showing up for work, making sure they get to work, and not always calling in or stuff like that. But you've got people in Anchorage, they have people [in] Anchorage, Homer, they've got people that want to go to work for the post office down in those places. But out here, we do not. All the villages hurt out here. They can’t get people to come to work, or people that wanna hire on and go to work, [be]cause they don’t like the hours, long hours sometimes.
KYUK: I noticed you got here 5 minutes early, at least for this interview. Is that your style?
Murphy: Oh, if I have to be someplace, I like to be there early and not be late, I try. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but I try.
KYUK: Have you ever been late to work?
Murphy: My actual hours are supposed to be from 9 [a.m.] to 6 [p.m.]. And as most of the people out there know, I know Bev [Hoffman] and Harry [Faulkner] know that well, that I'm into work early, and I don't leave till late. Sometimes, I would be in at 7:30 [a.m.], 7:20 [a.m.] when school was on, my son would deliver me to the post office, you might say, and then he'd take the kids to school. So that was a lot of it, and then you get going along, and everybody, a lot of the people know, even the district office in Anchorage knows, and my wife used to tell them, she could not compete with the post office. The post office was my mistress.
KYUK: What is the craziest package that ever came through the Bethel post office while you were at the helm?
Murphy: I can't say. There’s just been so many different ones over the period of time, that you just see oddball stuff and [you’re] wondering, ‘What in the world is that?’ But you always had some funny stuff come through, somebody shipping something and wondering, ‘What in the world did they ship that for?’
KYUK: Do you recall the smallest package you've ever seen?
Murphy: A little tiny, 2 [inch by] 2 [inch] package, 2 [inch by] 2 [inch by 2 [inch], just enough to get the address on there and put some postage on the other side. That was before you put tracking numbers on.
KYUK: Did you ever see any, any big busts at the post office, bringing through the dogs or any of that?
Murphy: We used to have the [Western Alaska Alcohol and Narcotics Team] team here. We had to send stuff into the inspectors, we could smell it so bad and everything. And we still get stuff through, and I still have to send stuff in to the inspectors. It has to be cleared and that. I can't open it, I can't touch it. I mean, there’s nothing I can do on it.
KYUK: Can you describe what it was like to show up in Bethel in [19]88 and be working at the post office, and then you eventually became postmaster. What was Bethel like?
Murphy: It’s changed lots. You didn't have Kasayuli sub. Tundra Ridge, I think was there when I came. But I remember when I first came here, the only subdivision you had was right across the slough up where Housing is. That was the subdivision when I was first here in [19]68 or [1969].
When I started, we had the post office in the AC building, the section that's over where GCI [is]. And where [Association of Village Council Presidents] is, that was our annex where we processed the mail and then took it down by truck down to the other office to be boxed and everything. When I first came here, it was down, well, I'm trying to think, because I did go to it. It was in the [Northern Commercial] building down where Joe Lomack is.
KYUK: Are you well traveled around the [Yukon-Kuskokwim] Delta?
Murphy: I've been in every post office from McGrath down to the mouth, and that includes Flat when it was a post office. On the Yukon, I've been to every village from Nulato all the way out. I’ve been out to Hooper Bay, all those stations. I've been all over.
KYUK: What brought you to all the post offices?
Murphy: Well, it's just audits that we were doing at different times. And I'd stop in [at] a couple of them when I was out moose hunting or something like that.
KYUK: You spent the vast [majority] of your life involved with the [U.S.] Postal Service. Do you think it's going to remain strong in the future here?
Murphy: Well, I'm hoping, for the people. Alaska needs it, because you can just see what it would be if there was no post office in Alaska. What would you do with your bypass mail? Because that would go too.
KYUK: What's next for you?
Murphy: Well, I'll stay here in Bethel. I do have a house in Montana that was my parents’ house, and I have a sister down there. She came up over the Labor Day weekend there, was up for four days, and we had a beautiful time together because the weather was nice and everything. So that was great. But I'll go down. She said, come on down to the ranch. You can stay with me if you don't want to stay in your house in town and that. So I'll go down and visit her sometime this fall, October, November. And I'll be back. I'll be back.
KYUK: So you're not going to end up one of these snowbirds?
Murphy: Oh no, no, I'm not a snowbird.
KYUK: Do you mind if I ask your age?
Murphy: I was born Oct. 6, [19]46, and when I got hired at the post office, it happened to be exactly on my birthday, too. So what a birthday present I had for almost 51 years.
KYUK: Is there anything else you want to say?
Murphy: I just want to thank the Bethel people out there for all the help I've gotten and different stuff with it. We've got a good community. We've just got some other problems in there. [It would] sure be nice that they could take them down a little bit, but that's the way life is now.