Signed, Sealed & Delivered

There were no uniforms, delivery trucks or delivery routes when Lino Perez Jr. started working as a Rio Grande City postal clerk in 1934.

By 1975, when he retired as postmaster, the post office had been upgraded; mail was delivered to rural ranches and the number of employees had tripled to 15.

Perez, a pioneer who went on to be a rancher and serve his community, so helped shape the postal system in Rio Grande City that the post office there was renamed after him in June.

Now, 92, he turned to the post office for a career during the Great Depression.

Jobs were scarce and those paying a decent wage even more so.

He started as a postal clerk but left shortly after to work as a rough neck. The pay was better than the post office, but it was hard.

He came back to the post office after a year. His father, Lino Sr., was the post master. The elder Lino retired from that position in 1957.

That’s the year the youngest Lino took over as post master.

“The post office was one of the focal points in the city,” said his son, Lino III. “Everyone had to go there.”

Lino quickly managed to have the post office upgraded to a 2nd class facility, establishing the city’s first mail delivery service and creating several rural mail routes in Starr County.

He also leased a former U.S. Border Patrol truck, which still had the emblematic green stripes.

“Every time the truck would stop people would run out the back door, just because the truck was green and white,” Lino III said.

Lino’s wife, Dora, worked by his side for 38 years.

After retiring and taking up ranching, he spearheaded work for the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic service group, and various city and hospital boards.

Lino, whose health has recently declined, was forced to leave Rio Grande City on July 1, after floods hit the area.

He and Dora had to be rescued in a boat from their house after 20 inches of water filled their home.

The family recovered some older black-and-white pictures but newer ones were lost.

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Andres R. Martinez covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.