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fter the second week in July, it won’t be Leon emerging from the boxy brown truck any more. After 33 years with UPS, Leon Jones is retiring.

For the last ten of those years he has worked in Pamlico County. He’s become such a familiar part of the scene, especially in the Oriental area, that he’s been tapped to be Grand Marshal in the Croakerfest Parade on July 5.

Leon Jones during a lunch break in Lou-Mac Park..

A month before his retirement, Leon sat down for an interview. It was lunchtime and the picnic table at Lou Mac Park seemed a fitting place to talk. Leon says he’s had lunch here many times over the years, looking out at what he calls, that “million dollar view.”

It is one of the things he’ll miss.

A lifelong resident of Kinston, Leon Jones got his start with UPS in Pamlico County. In 1975, he trained here. Back then, there were no street signs or house numbers and many a package was simply addressed to a PO box. He had to reach out for help. “Where the Steamer Restaurant is, used to be Smith’s Hardware.” Leon says, “A lot of times I’d go in there and ask those guys where everybody lived.”

Inside the big brown truck

They tended to know. Back then, Leon says, “almost everyone in Oriental was local,” with only a few “non-natives”. The influx of people from outside is one of the biggest changes he’s seen in the last 33 years.

That in-migration has directly changed the dynamics of his route. It used to be that the UPS driver delivered all over Pamlico County. The concentration of people now in Oriental and environs has made this area a separate UPS route of its own.

Leon’s first stint in Pamlico County was short, just a month or so. He then spent more than 20 years delivering in New Bern, Bridgeton, as well as Jacksonville and Chocowinity.

Then a decade ago, by way of seniority, he got the Pamlico route when the man who had trained him, Grady Raynor, retired.

In UPS circles, Leon’s circuit is, he says, “one of the better routes”. The miles have something to do with it. With Oriental being so far out here off the beaten track, a lot of the time is spent driving just to get here, which means less time to carry packages to doorsteps. “The lower number of boxes to handle is good for the driver.” Leon summarizes. “You can’t walk and drive at the same time.”

Leon and one of the packages delivered in Oriental.

The flip side of that is the he logs a lot of miles every day. The route alone, from the distribution center in Havelock and to this end of Pamlico County, accounts for about 170 miles. On top of that, there’s Leon’s drive from his home in Kinston to Havelock. He figures he’s putting in 250-280 miles a day behind one wheel or another.

Away from work, he doesn’t like to drive. “It’s just like asking the dressmaker to go home at night and mend the children’s clothes. I drive, but I’m not crazy about driving anymore.”

Travel then, is not high on his list of things to do in retirement. At least not initially. Leon says he likes to hunt and fish, and plans to do that. Maybe volunteer with a youth camp or the fire department.

Leon with his wife Teresa. He says brown is not his favorite color, but we thought Leon was being a company man wearing this vest at an April 2007 party in Oriental.

After 33 years, he says that he figures there’s going to be some adjusting to this new phase. But he emphasizes that he’s “ready for a change.”

The time has come. “I want to be able to walk when I’m through,” he explains. “Y’know, you can tell it in your knees and back. My knees give me a bit of trouble. I don’t want to retire and not be able to do anything.”

He’s set to step down from stepping down off the truck around July 10th. Five days before then, Leon and his family – his wife, Teresa and children, Kevin, Beth and Phillip and six grandchildren will be on the Croakerfest Parade Grand Marshal’s Float. Parade organizer Paul Fairbank says it’ll be a pontoon boat.

Leon will not be wearing brown, he says.

And he won’t be driving.

Leon Jones heads to his truck. That’ll happen a few thousand more times between now and his mid-July retirement.

Leon On…

The Oddest Delivery: The oddest delivery he ever made was not here in Pamlico County but in Wilmar, between Vanceboro and Chocowinity, when the rules were that he couldn’t simply leave a package on the stairs:

“There was a lady that worked in a firetower. Back then, everything was signed for. She started coming down and I started up. I delivered about half-way up the tower.”

A Box is a Box is a Box: We asked what the oddest package was that he’d delivered.

“Really, we don’t know a whole lot about what we’re actually delivering. And when you … if you do it as long as I have, you don’t really care. When you first start out, you sometimes pick boxes up and you say, ‘I wonder what’s in this box.’ But y’know, after you do it a few years, the thought doesn’t even cross your mind. It’s just part of your day.”

Dogs: “I’ve had several dogs bite me that ‘wouldn’t bite’,” Leon says. “Nothing severe. Didn’t require stitches.” Mostly though, the way to a barking dog’s heart is through his stomach; Leon figures he goes through a 4-pound bag of dog biscuits every month.
It’s hard to bark and eat at the same time.

MPG: The big brown truck gets “a tick over 8” miles to the gallon.

Brown: His favorite colors are blue and green.

You’ll get to show Leon cheers and appreciation before his retirement when he is the Grand Marshal for the Croaker Festival Parade July 5.

Publisher’s Note:

We can attest to Leon very much knowing his customers.. and not only their houses, but their cars too. Returning to the car one day after lunch at Brantley’s, we found a package had been delivered directly to the front passenger seat.

What’s your best Leon story? Email it in to info@towndock.net and we will share reader stories online.

Posted Wednesday June 11, 2008 by Melinda Penkava