09/29/2007
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Staff photo by Joe Phelan
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Staff photo by Joe Phelanfrom the Kennebec Journal
FAIRPOINT PLAN TARGETS DEBT
Wind project off Mass. meets strong resistance
Three bills seek tougher rules for petitioners
New rules for special education debated
Happy apples
AUGUSTA: Cuts to French curriculum run into opposition
HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL: Hall-Dale drops MVC title game to Mountain Valley
HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY NOTEBOOK: Different stakes in Gardiner-Winslow rivalry
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
'At the time ... he was psychotic'
Man answers door, is attacked with Mace and then robbed
FairPoint reorganization plan aims to slash company's debt
Concerns over special-education changes aired
FAIRFIELD: Clinton man, 21, arrested on rape, assault charges
Stun gun, arrest of suspect end high-speed, 2-town chase
HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY NOTEBOOK: Gardiner, Winslow take to ice again
GIRLS BASKETBALL: Skowhegan wins KVAC A title game
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
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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