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Nostalgia June 2015

Do You Remember RFD?

By Denton Harris

The RFD mail man was a privileged character.  He knew the families on his route, often doing chores for them when they were sick. Or everybody on his route knew they could get a ride back to town for a quarter.

I found that once well-known acronym "RFD" has become almost obsolete so I thought it would be wise to check it out.

The first person I asked was a middle-aged female who said, "I think it's probably a "Really Fresh Dish."

The second person was a giggling teenager, who said it means something like "Radio Frequency Digital."

The third was a 49-year-old ex-athlete, still young looking and in splendid condition. He looked puzzled as he repeated "RFD must have something to do with baseball, like Really Fast Delivery."

So it went on like this with a half dozen more folks.

Eventually, I went into town where a group of old men gathered every day to swap stories. I asked my question, "How many of you know what RFD means?"

Unanimously they answered as a group: "Rural Free Delivery.”

That convinced me that RFD is a forgotten term and, in a way, kinda sad because I grew up on an RFD route. The mail man, Mr. Owens, went to the town post office each morning, sorted his mail and headed out on his 30-mile route. Because we lived only two miles out of town he reached our roadside mail box between 9:30 and 10 a.m. We didn't get our mail until we came out of the field for ll:30 dinner. (That was the term for what people call lunch today, and dinner which we called supper is now in the evening.)

The RFD mail man was a privileged character.  He knew the families on his route, often doing chores for them when they were sick. Or everybody on his route knew they could get a ride back to town for a quarter. People on his route often stuck fresh fruit or vegetables in the mail box for him.

I don't know if many RFD routes are still around, but hopefully there are some that will bring printed material to young children; a boy or girl will read the catalogs and papers and dream what their future will be, as we did. The RFD was a ticket to the outside world, giving an opportunity for an eager boy or girl to establish contact with those they wanted to reach for the future. I personally know of at least two who became acquainted with officials at two major firms where they are now employed. All began with a penny postcard and a three-cent stamp.

 

Denton Harris served in the 86th Infantry in World War II.

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