116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
‘Keep busy. Love what you do.’ 91-year-old Cedar Rapids postal worker retires after 65 years
Ernie Topness was second-longest serving U.S. postal worker in the country
Dec. 15, 2024 6:00 am, Updated: Dec. 16, 2024 8:04 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — Not even an inland hurricane could stop Ernest “Ernie” Topness.
In August 2020, a straight-line windstorm known as a derecho hit Cedar Rapids, bringing wind gusts of up to 140 mph and causing widespread devastation.
The U.S. Postal Service worker was out delivering mail that day when his postal truck became stuck — pinned between two trees toppled by the powerful storm.
Topness, then in his late 80s, rode out the storm inside of his mail truck on Mallory Street SW just off Wilson Avenue SW in Cedar Rapids. Trees blocked the front and back of his truck. He radioed back to the post office.
“He said, ‘I'm running late because I got to get the trees cleared, but then I'll finish my route,’” said son Tim Rion-Topness of Cedar Rapids.
As soon as the storm subsided, neighbors who had sheltered in their homes began exiting to survey the damage. They saw Topness and his pinned truck, and quickly grabbed chain saws to cut up and clear the trees.
“And then he finished his route. Now, how many people would do that?” Rion-Topness said, saying his father personified the unofficial Postal Service motto: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
The day after the derecho, his father hopped on his Honda motorcycle to get to work, as a tree had fallen across his driveway and blocked his car.
“He had to drive around the tree to get to work,” Rion-Topness, 62, said of his father. “So you talk about somebody being dedicated. … My dad's delivered mail in 30-below weather.”
The 91-year-old Korean War veteran recently retired after 65 years of service, making him the second-longest serving mail carrier in the country.
The longest-serving postal worker marked 70 years on the job.
Ernie Topness first joined the U.S. Postal Service in 1959 at the age of 26 after serving in the U.S. Army. He has worked in Cedar Rapids his entire career — first at a meatpacking house before joining the Postal Service, where he delivered mail on foot and by truck first near downtown on the northwest side of the Cedar River, and later on the city’s southwest side.
“There's even times when he had three jobs,” working at the post office, delivering The Gazette and cleaning a bar at night and on weekends, said daughter Pati Williams of Cedar Rapids.
“He also worked at the sorghum mill part-time. So I mean, he just has always worked,” Williams said.
Ernie Topness, who declined to be interviewed and photographed for this story, never missed a day of work as a mail carrier, retiring with three and a half years worth of accumulated sick leave, according to his son.
He also drove more than 3 million miles delivering the mail without a single accident — a feat previously unheard of within the U.S. Postal Service, earning him a special plaque and jacket.
“He's humble. He's not going to talk to you,” Rion-Topness said of his father, who grew up during the Great Depression and cherished simple gifts like candy and socks.
Ernie Topness was recognized last week in a speech on the U.S. House floor by U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, of Marion, for his “unwavering dedication and inspiring service.”
“Ernie delivered mail in Cedar Rapids for 65 years, making connections and building friendship with those on his route,” Hinson said. “Ernie’s dedication is unmatched. When others would sit out a snow day or call in sick, he was always known to show up.”
Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell signed a proclamation declaring Nov. 29, Topness’ last day as a U.S. mail carrier, as “Ernest Topness Day.”
Williams said her father continued working into his 90s at the urging of his late wife, who died in 2012.
“She told him not to quit working, because then he would just probably sit at home and pass away himself,” Williams said. “So he kept working. … And he said, ‘Why would I quit and get a part-time job when I got a job I already like?’”
He saw no reason to slow down, Williams, 64, said, even as his own children began to retire.
“The snow never stopped him. He always still pushed through it and was bit by dogs a few times,” she said. “ … I don't know why he was so dedicated, but he just was. He was a man (where) that was his job, and he was going to be there every day.”
She said her father forged strong and lasting relationships with those on his route, often checking on elderly customers and receiving treats from them. She recalled a time when a man on oxygen had fallen while mowing the backyard. Her father found him and helped him up and into the house and made sure he was OK.
Rion-Topness said his father carried a book of stamps with him on his route and would put a stamp on a letter and mail it for the “little old lady retired living off Social Security.”
“He always took good care of his customers and loved being outside,” he said.
Williams said her father maintains an active daily routine in retirement, walking 2 miles every morning on a trail near his home as long as the weather is clear, even during the cold. After his morning walk, he has lunch and then goes for an additional 30-minute walk around the block.
Rion-Topness said his father still rides his Honda motorcycle.
O’Donnell, the Cedar Rapids mayor, posted the following words wisdom from the 91-year-old dynamo on her Facebook page: “Keep busy. Love what you do.”
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com
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