Born in Redig, S.D., Kumley grew up there, too. Today, Wikipedia says, in recent years Redig, named for two brothers who were ranchers in the area, has “a few occupied mobile homes, as well as some buildings, dozens of junk trashed cars, junk equipment, prairie dog infestation, and a general store and post office. The population is estimated to be near 5.” Turns out the post office has importance here: Kumley’s father, Earl, was Postmaster starting in 1923; his mother, Ella, took over the job in 1937. At some point, the unincorporated community got the Zip Code of 57776.
Edgar, meanwhile, worked as a farmer, and just out of high school was drafted into the U.S. Army. But he apparently flunked his physical: he was sent home with a “bad heart,” given 6 months to live. Instead of dying, he thrived at home, married Elizabeth Krug in 1944, and did two main things: he worked, and he fathered 10 children with Elizabeth. “He loved his children and made sure they were all educated and in the career field of their choice,” the family wrote of him. That’s where the work came in: “telephone lineman, sheep herder, night lamb guardian, mechanic, welder, rancher, and he enjoyed haying and made sure all his children helped out,” his family said. “He was also a trucker and owned his own trucks, which meant staying up all night fixing and repairing them.” When he wasn’t doing that, he minded Redig’s general store and post office. First, starting in late 1948, he was acting Postmaster. On March 25, 1949, the president of the United States — Harry S. Truman — appointed him Postmaster for Redig, removing the “acting” part.
Kumley remembers the Dust Bowl, when the folks of Redig would spot families walking across the prairie, carrying all of their belongings. “We would take them in and feed them, and the next morning they were on their way again across the gumbo,” he said. “Gumbo,” the American Heritage Dictionary explains, is the term for “A fine silty soil, common in the southern and western United States, that forms an unusually sticky mud when wet.” That’s what was in the air during the Dust Bowl, and it meant tough slogging if it got wet.
Elizabeth died in 1993; Edgar carried on, working. “Edgar was always busy,” said his granddaughter, Victoria Constantin — who is Redig’s current relief Postmaster. “At 98, he was still running around fixing cars and feeding cows. And in the summers, he would cut, swath and haul hay to prepare for winter.” In 2015, Edgar finally “retired” from the Postmaster job. That’s in quotes because he didn’t leave the job, the job left him: the town got too small for a capital-P Postmaster, but he kept doing the job. It’s unclear when he finally stepped away to rest.
Edgar Samuel Kumley died at a hospital in Bowman, N.D., on April 6. He was — the family thinks, but aren’t sure because his birth records were destroyed in a fire when he was a child — 102, and is survived by 8 of his children, 41 grandchildren, 78 great grandchildren, and 5 great-great grandchildren. He was, simply, one of the folks who keep things running in the background, working part-time at numerous jobs, including 67 years as the Postmaster in the little American town of Redig.