GENEVA NY — The Geneva, NY, Post Office Building was given greater distinction after a ceremony dedicating it to native Corporal Steven Blaine Riccione. A graduate of Geneva High School, Riccione died on Sept. 27, 1967, while serving in Vietnam. He was 20 years old.

The ceremony included members of the Riccione family – siblings Tom, Janet and Susan - as well as U.S. Congressmen Richard Hanna (24th District) and Tom Reed (29th District); New York State Senator Michael Nozzolio (54th Senate District); U.S. Army National Guard Brigadier General (Retired) John Cataline; U.S. Postal Service, Western NY District Manager Kathleen Burns and Command Sgt. Maj. Steven Haywood from the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division. Members of the community, friends and loved ones attended in a show of support and respect.

Legislation to dedicate the Geneva Post Office building to Cpl. Steven Blaine Riccione was introduced by Congressman Hanna and signed into law by President Obama on May 16, 2012. A plaque unveiled at the ceremony will be permanently mounted inside the Post Office lobby.

In her speech, District Manager Burns acknowledged the work of Steven’s loved-ones on his behalf. “Though Steven has not been in our physical presence for nearly 45-years, he is not forgotten! His memory, spirit, and sacrifice are immortalized by the people who continue to champion his name.”

The ceremony date, selected by his family, is Riccione’s birth date; he would have been 65 years old.

The Postal Service does not receive tax dollars for operating expenses; it relies entirely on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. 

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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, the U.S. Postal Service was ranked number one in overall service performance, out of the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world, Oxford Strategic Consulting. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

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