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By MEGHAN V. MALLOY
Staff Writer 09/29/2007

enlarge Staff photo by Joe Phelan

Letter carrier Jack "the dancing mail man" Kuncewitch drop mail into a box as he does his route for the last time on Friday afternoon in Augusta.

enlarge Staff photo by Joe Phelan

Kirsten Herbert, left, and her dog Phantom visit with letter carrier Jack Kuncewitch as he walks his mail route for the last time on Friday afternoon in Augusta.

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Staff Writer

Most postal carriers amble through their routes each day. Not Jack Kuncewitch. He dances.

Known fondly by several people in Augusta as the "dancing mailman," Kuncewitch, 55, hung up his mailbag Friday after 31 years as a postal carrier on the East Coast, 14 of them in Maine.

"I don't plan on doing a thing except relax for awhile," Kuncewitch, of Hallowell, said with a grin. "It's been a long time."

Kuncewitch, a Brunswick, N.J., native, hit up his central Augusta route on foot one last time Friday, stopping to talk to his customers along the way.

"He literally does not stand still," said Margo Callahan, an employee at Rodrigue Eye Care on Kuncewitch's route. "That's why we say he dances."

Even as Kuncewitch stood talking to some employees at the optometrist's office Friday morning, he bounced lightly from foot to foot.

"I'll miss the people I've met on my route the most. They've made this more of a game than work, really," Kuncewitch said. "I just liked what I did."

He liked it so much, in fact, he would deliver the mail no matter the weather condition.

During the ice storm of 1998, Kuncewitch said, he was the only carrier who braved the storm and delivered the mail.

He's walked the route in drenching rain.

He's been chased by people's dogs.

It's not always sunshine, he said, adding, "You can complain about all of it, but it'll make for a really long walk."

Before Kuncewitch left Rodrigue Eye Care, the office had a gift for him. As he prepares to hang his mail cap -- which literally sports a feather in it -- he'll have an equal replacement: a furry purple hat.

"He's just a nice guy," said postmaster Lynn Pierce. " Jack is always happy and easygoing. Let's just say he's very talkative."

Customers who have come to call Kuncewitch their friend as well as their mail carrier aren't the only ones who will miss him.

"His co-workers all like him," Pierce said. "I can't say he's ever had a problem with any of them."

Though Kuncewitch said he doesn't have any immediate plans for his retirement, he said he would like to visit his brother in New Jersey, then continue south to see his parents in North Carolina.

"I put that trip off, thinking I would work at least a few more years," he said. "Now I have all the time in the world."

Meghan V. Malloy -- 623-3811 Ext. 431

mmalloy@centralmaine.com

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