Beaver postmaster known for customer service to retire May 31

Special delivery -- Beaver Postmaster Deb Davis will say "Sayonara" on May 31. She has been the postmaster at Beaver for 10 years of her 21-year career in the Postal Service and is retiring to "see what's next." The town will hold a farewell potluck for her on June 13 at 1 p.m. at the Beaver Community Hall. Photo by Kathryn Lucariello [Order this photo]

BEAVER -- Everyone says, "It won't be the same without you," but for the little post office at Beaver, it really won't -- Deb Davis (formerly Deb Cawyer) is retiring at the end of May after having served at Beaver for 10 years.

"It has been the most wonderful adventure, and I'm off to the next one. I want to say thanks to everyone," she said.

A 21-year career

Davis is rounding up a 21-year career with the Postal Service. She started her stint in Magnolia, after she and her first husband settled there after years of moving around because of his job with K-Mart.

She started work in 1987 as a mail carrier in Magnolia, where she worked for seven years. Then she transferred to Eureka Springs as a clerk, where she worked for four years, and finally was promoted to postmaster in Beaver in 1998 and has been here ever since.

"My first day here, it was cleaning up and planting and getting to know people," Deb said. "Here comes this little old guy with a painting of the Beaver Bridge done by Treu Hocker in 1946. He said, 'This belongs in the post office,' and I said okay."

The man was Tommy Thomas, well-known and loved local artist, who served as town alderman and mayor.

"I said, 'I want one of your pictures of the bridge,'" Deb said. "He didn't have one, so he went to do the bridge with a pencil and an 8 by 10 piece of typing paper and gave me a drawing."

Bridge collection started

She framed it and then made postcards of it and did a pictorial cancellation of it. That was the beginning of the post office's Beaver Bridge art collection.

Over the years more artists donated paintings, drawings and photographs of the bridge: Marilyn Brown, Ken Concar, Don Eiler, Ted Hood, Jr., Barb Kerbox, Dee Landerman, Read Larson, Kathryn Lucariello, Ron Lutz, Betty Maffei, Steve Mecha, Carol Peacock, Cynthia Ré Robbins, Jody Stephenson, Jill Sweeney, Carol Voelkering, Howard Wallace and Jim Young.

Deb said she appreciates the fact that the Postal Service allowed her to have this art on display even though it has nothing to do with the post office per se.

Deb said that with the permission of the artists, the Eureka Springs Historical Museum has agreed to accept the art collection, and they are planning to do a special Beaver Bridge exhibit in the near future.

"People can see it, and it will be preserved," Deb said.

A sense of ambience

That art collection was part of a sense of ambience and community that Deb created from her first day on the job.

That ambience includes a beautiful flower and herb garden, a park bench and a birdbath donated by the townspeople.

"We decided we wanted this to be a place you'd enjoy coming to," she said, "a place for people to feel relaxed."

The town is proud of its post office, won from the threat of closure with a land purchase and many hours of labor to build it.

The original post office building across the street was so small you could barely turn around in it, Deb said.

"The town was going to lose it because it was not handicapped-accessible, so in 1990 the town got together, purchased this land and volunteered people to build this building. It was very amazing what they all did to keep their post office. They all did the plumbing, floors, landscaping, everything."

When Deb left Eureka and first came to work in Beaver, people asked her if she'd be bored way out in Beaver town.

"It has never been boring, never," she said. She said she loves the beauty and peacefulness of this place and the many people she has met from all over the world.

Many tourists come to see the bridge, and several end up in Beaver because they are told to "turn on Hwy. 187" (the one leading to Beaver is one of three; the other two go to Beaver Dam).

People from all walks of life, every state and several foreign countries have come to the little post office and requested keepsake postcards or stamps.

New land, new plans

Deb and her husband have purchased land and a cabin in the Mountain Home area. Her plans for retirement are open-ended.

"I'm going to take a year off from everything," she said. "And then, I'll see what's next."

That seeing "what's next" is part and parcel of her spiritual life, she says, and it has been a part of her role in Beaver, as it is the people she will miss the most.

"It's been interesting. People would show up here and they weren't really sure why. I would hear about their spiritual paths in life as they were coming through, and we would share insights."

It's all good

Deb describes herself as a "glass half-full" person, even about situations like the Beaver Bridge being partially underwater and impassable. She says she gets daily questions about what will happen to it.

"I believe she'll be fine. Whether as a walking or driving bridge, we don't know, but I refuse to believe the worst. We'll cross that bridge when we get there!

"I think everything is how it's supposed to be, and it will be okay -- that's the 'glass half-full' answer."

As for the post office, it's doing fine, Deb said. It's making money.

"We went from being in the red to being in the black."

That success was possible, she said, because "we prided ourselves on customer service."

That service includes the practice of shipping mail for free to the Holiday Island branch for people across the lake who have Beaver post office boxes.

The post office will go on, business as usual, Deb says, with a temporary postmaster until a new one is hired.

Farewell

But it won't be "business as usual" to the many townspeople and surrounding area residents who have been the recipients of Deb's cheerful smile and helpful manner for 10 years.

May 31 will be Deb's last day; however, the town is planning a farewell potluck for "the 13th at 13 o'clock," since the post office's zip code ends in 13. That translates to Friday, June 13, at 1 p.m. at the Beaver Community Hall.

Everyone is invited, said Town Clerk Mary Hill, and for potluck, if your name ends in A-H, bring a dish with meat; I-P, bring a salad or vegetable; and Q-Z a dessert. Drinks will be provided, and please don't bring gifts, just cards and well wishes for Deb, who will be sorely missed.