Nostalgia Day Parade Grand Marshals Announced  September 2011

BY: LIZ EMMETT-MATTOX
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In these days of email, cell phones and virtual communication, there is something decidedly old-fashioned about real mail.
Perhaps that is part of the reason it seems so fitting that the Niwot Community Association chose the postal workers, past and present, as the grand marshals for this year’s Nostalgia Day Parade.

Terry Larson said, “We were thinking about logos and images for the posters and things, and decided to use a postmark. Then it just grew from there,  and we thought, ‘Why not have the post office as our theme and have them be the Grand Marshal?’”

Pat Murphy said, “When we were thinking about who to honor, the post office is really the center of our community. And with the postal service under so much scrutiny, we thought it would be good to recognize the people who work there.”
Organizers aren’t sure who from the current staff will be available (the Post Office will be open as usual on Saturday morning during the parade), but long-time Niwot residents will recognize former Postmaster Edie Boone Thielen in the lead car.

Photo by Liz Emmett-Mattox
Stephanie Pelle and Edie Boone Thielen will be grand marshals at Nostalgia Day.

Boone Thielen moved with her family from north of Longmont to a dairy farm at the base of Haystack Mountain. She attended Niwot Elementary when it was located where the Diagonal Highway is today.
In 1961, Boone Thielen joined the postal service in Niwot, and worked there for several years. Shortly after she left, she was asked to return and become the acting postmaster.

In those days, the position of postmaster was a presidential appointment. Soon after her return, she was appointed postmaster by President Johnson. Because the process was changed shortly after her appointment, she was one of the last postmasters to be appointed by a US President.
When Boone Thielen started at the post office, there were about 60 post-office box holders. By the time she retired in 1988, there were more than double that many, and the post office had moved from its former home in the building that now houses Niwot Realty to its present location. “Being a small community then, it really was like a big family,” she said.

Boone Thielen said she never imagined she would be there so long. “I loved it, though. I miss the people.” She moved to Longmont in 1985, and doesn’t see her regular customers nearly as much. But when she does, she says it’s just like old times. “Sometimes I see people and I can’t think of their names, but I remember their box number.”
The post office has always been a central gathering place for Niwot residents. “The mail used to come in the morning and people would walk over to the post office early in the morning. It was a meeting place. People would get there early and visit with their neighbors,” said Boone Thielen.

A generation later, Stephanie Pelle recalled a similar story. “Back when our kids were little, everyone would walk over to the post office with their kids in strollers, their dogs, the whole thing. There was one woman who got a [post office] box just so she wouldn’t miss out on anything.”
Even in the age of cell phones, email and instant communication, there is something special about the Niwot post office and the people who work there.