Postman with rural routes entertains valley seniors

Charlie Vecchi describes himself as semi-retired, but most weeks, you’ll find him spending three days driving back and forth to the edge of Nevada to deliver mail, bicycling, growing vegetables, reading Scripture to the congregation at his church, tap dancing with a senior group and rehearsing with another group that performs old-time radio shows live for residents at assisted living facilities.

“I get bored,” he said.

The east valley resident grew up in Iowa and moved to New York, hoping to break into theater.

“After high school, I lived in the YMCA for nine months in New York City,” he said. “I was almost cast in ‘Kiss Me Kate,’ but I got drafted and had to go all the way back to Des Moines, Iowa. I was a combat engineer; we blew up bridges.”

He was discharged following the Korean War and ended up in Chicago, where he worked a few odd jobs before starting a mailbox business with a partner in 1953. He ran it for 42 years, then retired to Las Vegas and eventually took a part-time job with the post office, delivering mail to Jean and Primm, which he has done for the last 14 years.

He loads his vehicle at the U.S. Post Office Paradise Valley branch and is on the road by 8 a.m. His first stop is the Jean Post Office, where he drops off boxes of mail and packages, and then he’s back on the highway to Primm, where he drops off and picks up all the mail for the town’s three casinos at the Primm Valley Resort. He does the same at the Fashion Outlets of Las Vegas and his most complicated stop, Desert Oasis Apartments, 4445 Diamond Head Drive, where many of the town’s casino workers and mall workers live.

“There’s a few hundred boxes here,” Vecchi said. “People are pretty eager to get their mail, and a lot of time, they come by asking where their check or their package is. A lot of them want to grab it right out of my hand, and they can’t do that. It has to go in their mailbox.”

On Mondays, he rehearses with the radio play group Richard’s Radio Theater. He discovered the group through friends he met tap dancing and finds the performances satisfying and rewarding.

“We rehearse at the American Legion Hall (733 N. Veterans) Memorial Drive,” Vecchi said. “One of the performers is a member.”

The group is made up of eight amateur senior performers, but they put on a show like true professionals. At a recent performance at Prestige Assisted Living at Henderson, 1050 E. Lake Mead Parkway, their director, Richard Fredrickson, got lost, and the performers found themselves down an actor and all of their audio equipment.

They quickly reassigned some roles, rustled up some background equipment to play their sound effects and soldiered on, using an improvised prop mic and projecting their voices across the large community room.

“That was a crazy show,” said Sharon Biagi, one of the performers. “We had to do a little running around to get it going, but the show must go on.”

The troupe reads from scripts of old radio shows that members get online, including “My Friend Irma,” “Dragnet,” “The Baby Snooks Show” and others. Vecchi plays several roles, including Dragnet’s Sgt. Joe Friday and the long-suffering Daddy to Baby Snooks.

“I truly enjoy doing her,” Fay Schneider said of her Baby Snooks role. “I’m originally from Brooklyn, and it feels so natural.”

The performers wear costumes and period clothing but maintain the radio concept by acting primarily vocally.

“It’s acting from the neck up,” Fredrickson said. “It’s great to be bringing these old shows out and letting people hear them again.”

Even during the challenging performance, the audience was enthralled and appreciative, Schneider said.

“It’s so gratifying,” Schneider said. “They come over to us after the performance and tell us they remember Snooks or so and so. It really brings a smile to their face.”

At the convenience store in Primm, Vecchi sat for a cup of coffee before resuming his mail route. A customer from the apartment complex next door came in, spotted him and asked about a package she wasn’t able to sign for the previous day.

He assured her that he’d bring it the following day, and she left smiling, saying, “See you tomorrow.” It seemed like a scene from yesteryear, when the world moved at a less hectic place.

“A lot of the people out here don’t have a car,” Vecchi said. “If they want something, more often than not, they order it online, and it’s shipped to them. The mail is pretty important to them.”

To reach East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor, email ataylor@viewnews.com or call 702-380-4532.