Walter Chronert served as Los Altos Postmaster from 1966 to 1979. In addition, his countless hours of community service, time and devotion have brought him many honors. He was interviewed by Anne Lee in February 1998.
I've loved all my jobs at the post office. I've been a letter carrier, clerk, superintendent of mail, postal inspector, assistant postmaster and then the Los Altos Postmaster. I know all the jobs. I could walk in that post office and run it from a standing start.
I'd say to the window clerks, "If you don't like to wait on people, I don't want you here." If a carrier argued with a patron, I'd say, "If you don't like doing things for people, you're in the wrong job. Why don't you get another job somewhere else?" I woke a few people up with that, but that was my style.
I was a Scout master here for 14 years. That was a wonderful experience. Everyone knew me. People said, "If you've got a problem, just call Walt." That's the way it was. I was president of the Chamber of Commerce in 1977. I've been in the Kiwanas for more than 25 years. It is a great organization. It's a real hands-on service organization.
One of the highlights of my life was being named "One of the 50 Who Made a Difference" by the Town Crier. At the reception they asked me to say what made me proud in my career. Well, I could have talked and talked. But there is a little curve in the street across from the main Los Altos Post Office. People can drive through and drop their mail, and just drive on. That was my idea. I'm proud of that, because it was done as a real courtesy to the patrons.
People used to come from all around to buy commemorative stamps in Los Altos. I always made sure we had all those fancy commemorative stamps. People buy them, and then they don't use them. I figured that you can't make more money than to sell a product and not have it used.
Oh, and before we end this, I have to tell you a story about the president of Foothill College. The college had just moved up the hill off by Elena Road. The president wanted a number for the mail delivery. I said, "Well, just tell them to put 'Foothill College' on the letters. If we can't deliver that, it's pretty sad."
But, he wanted a real street number. Right away, I just gave him 1-2-3-4-5. He looked at me and said, "Don't you have to get this approved by anybody?" "No," I said. "Just go ahead and use it." You know you can get a lot done if you don't stop to analyze or ask - if you just go ahead and do it. Just get things done.
- Adapted by Donna Shoemaker. For information about the Los Altos Oral History Program, call 948-9427.