Two tales of honesty

By CAROL MARINO

Honesty is still a practiced virtue in the Flathead Valley as two recent letters to the Inter Lake attest:

Connie Silverman writes from Whitefish to thank Ronald Dryden, a longtime employee of the Kalispell Post Office.

Dryden is a "nixie" clerk. His responsibilities include taking care of undeliverable mail - mail with no address or that has been mis-addressed or damaged.

Silverman had mistakenly placed in the mail an open, unaddressed envelope containing a sizable sum of cash. When she called the post office, Dryden did some digging, then called Silverman to let her know he had recovered the envelope.

When she asked him if the $200 was still inside, he volunteered that the envelope actually contained $300, then joked that maybe they should let it sit there awhile and see if it makes any more $100 bills.

Over the years, Dryden has reunited many lost packages and mail with its owners.

"It's my job and I enjoy what I do," he says simply. When he arrived at work Thursday at 3:30 a.m., his usual shift, he was pleased to find a tin of cookies for him, a thank-you gift from Silverman.

Dryden is known as "Beatle" to his friends and co-workers, a nickname that he was given in high school when, after years of elementary school crewcuts, he was able to grow out his hair.

Last year he shaved his head for St. Baldrick's Day, a fund-raiser for the Curesearch National Childhood Cancer Foundation. His shearing not only raised $1,000 in donations from co-workers and the community, but his hair went to Locks of Love to be made into wigs for young cancer patients.

"Mr. Dryden's honesty and conscientiousness are a credit to both himself and the U.S. Postal Service," Silverman writes. "I commend his dedication and integrity, and express my appreciation for his strong work ethic and unselfish good deeds."

Ironically, Silverman's husband recalls Dryden also locating for him a lost letter containing airline tickets two years ago. When he came into the post office to pick up his wife's envelope and reminded Dryden of the earlier incident, Dryden quipped, "Well when I retire maybe I better give you guys a call."

Frank Effron e-mailed us from Tulsa, Okla., to thank two people in our area who were responsible for returning his lost wallet.

While he and a companion were vacationing in Whitefish last month they attended the Parade of Homes. After visiting several of the homes on the tour, they stopped for lunch at the Swan Cafe in Bigfork.

"When I went to pay for lunch, I discovered that my wallet had slipped from my pocket," writes Effron. "But thanks to the good people of your community the story has a happy ending."

When Effron returned home in Oklahoma, he found a letter from Patrick Jones of Bay Books and Prints in Bigfork explaining that he had his wallet in safekeeping, had reported his lost credit cards for him, and would wait for Effron to call and let him know he was home from his vacation before mailing it back to him.

"Some kind soul found my wallet and left it on the counter in the store without a word," adds Effron. "I greatly appreciate the kindness of both the person who found my wallet and Mr. Jones."