Kent Bartholomew - Photos taken by Barbara Bartee,
Customer Services Supervisor, Jerome Post Office

Kent Bartholomew is a mail carrier for the Jerome, Idaho, Post Office, and has carried mail on the same route for 45 years. During that time, he has saved customers’ lives, received many awards, including a prestigious national safety award, been bitten by dogs, and participated in community events.  

Bartholomew began working for the Jerome Post Office in 1979. He says the supervisor at the time talked him into taking the job. “The Postal Service paid more in one week than [I] made with 20 hours’ overtime in two weeks.”

As a postal employee, he was thrilled to get steady pay raises, earn sick leave and paid vacation. “[I] am always thankful for my job and was so relieved to finally be where I could work the rest of my working career. This job was security for our family and one that we never took for granted.” 

We need a hero

Being a consistent presence in the community means Bartholomew has seen his fair share of good and bad moments. But it has also given him the unexpected opportunity to be a hero. He reported a smoke alarm that saved a house from burning to the ground, helped kids who accidentally got locked outside during the winter, rescued elderly customers who had fallen down, and returned home customers with dementia, who had gotten lost.

Award winner

In the course of his career delivering mail, Bartholomew has done something very few others manage to achieve — logged more than one million miles without a single accident. This amazing accomplishment earned him the National Safety Council (NSC) Million Mile Award, It also puts him in a prestigious group of a little more than 30,000 other postal workers who have earned the same award. The Safe Driver Award is the trademark of the expert driver and is recognized as the nation’s highest award for professional safe driving.

To put it in perspective, the moon is 238,900 miles from Earth. Driving one million miles is the equivalent of doing that journey more than four times, and a distinction most people never approach in their lifetimes.

He has also received many other honors including serving as a postal district brand ambassador, serving as safety captain and a mail carrier trainer, as well as receiving several awards from the district manager.

The ties that bind a community

Bartholomew has made many memories during his tenure including participating in local parades while riding on horseback. “We wore our mail shirts and hats, and red, white, and blue bandanas and always drew cheers from the crowd. Everyone knew us and we had a wonderful relationship with our community. They knew our names and were our friends.”

He has formed close bonds with his customers, delivering mail to three and four generations of families.

One of his best memories was helping to put together a surprise Christmas for a family in need. “They had a lot of young children and weren’t expecting much of a Christmas at all. We gathered, made and sewed new clothes for the entire family, gathered toys and food and put them in huge boxes.” Bartholomew delivered those boxes after work on Christmas Eve along with a story of how they were mailed with no return address on the packages. “It was pure magic for the family and gave me such a sweet sense of joy.”

In his 45 years of service, he has worked with five postmasters, eight supervisors, and 12 carriers, and estimates he has walked more than 150,000 miles. He says he is proud to be a part of the Postal Service, serving customers with respect, integrity, and dedicated professionalism.

Bartholomew has been married nearly 50 years, has four children, 19 grandchildren, and one great grandchild. When he’s not on duty, he co-owns the Jerome Farmers Market, works with the Jerome chamber of commerce, and participates in his local church.

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