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The mail carrier in most areas now delivers the paper to your mailbox. Sometimes, it’s mid-afternoon or early evening when you get your paper. Linda Faye Peters was an Elizabethton STAR carrier for over 50 years. She picked up the profession from her parents, Hughie and Nannie Oliver Richardson, who in years past ran the route from Hunter to Buladean. When “Pop Pop” got sick, Linda Faye began running part of the route, and it was something she continued until the STAR began using the U.S. mail for delivery service. For many Stoney Creek residents it meant the loss of a reliable daily friend, their newspaper carrier, Linda Faye Peters.

Linda Faye, as she was known to STAR employees as well as STAR subscribers on Stoney Creek, died September 8 at the age of 84. 

The STAR newspaper was a career for the Peters family as Linda Faye’s husband, C.Y., was a former circulation manager and before that worked in the pressroom. Her daughter, Jennifer, and son, Charles, also carried the newspaper. At one time, she had 500 customers or more, and her route extended from Hunter to the A.D. Fletcher Store. She was well-known to her customers. They trusted her to do errands for them, such as paying their subscriptions, especially in the wintertime. Often she would bring yard sale ads and other classified ads to the office for customers as well as birthday baby photos, church news, etc. Willie Ritchie, a long-time subscriber, would often send old photos, election cards, and other memorabilia to me via Linda Faye. Often, especially in the winter, she would pick up items at the store and drop them off to customers when she left their paper.

Kathy Scalf, former circulation manager and long-time employee, described Linda Faye as a very dedicated carrier and caring person. “She never missed a day unless she was on vacation, and then she had someone to fill in for her. She loved her customers and treated everyone special,” Kathy shared.

Carrying the newspaper was the only job that Linda Faye knew, except for a period when she worked as an aide for the Carter County School System. But, “paper carrier” was the job she identified with.

Linda Faye came early most days to the STAR. When the paper went to press at 12 noon, she was generally at the STAR by 9 or 10 a.m. She and the carriers would sit out back on a bench or meet in the breakroom and socialize. Other times they would do inserts, catch the papers as they came off the press and count them, and anything that needed to be done said Etta Carden, a newspaper carrier and sister-in-law to Linda Faye. 

“She lived the biggest part of her life in Peters Hollow. She was a good Christian woman, who loved her family, especially her grandchildren. She also loved her customers,” said Etta, who noted that Linda Faye had spent the last 14 or 15 months in the nursing home. Prior to that she lived with her daughter, Jennifer. Linda Faye suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

Linda Faye’s son, Charles, shared in a news story earlier this year that his mother many times was hailed as Carrier of the Month. She carried the paper during snowstorms, on flood-covered roads, and in both sweltering and freezing temperatures.

“Generations of Carter County residents remember her with fondness, recalling her smiling face and tireless work ethic. For many, she wasn’t just the lady who delivered the paper, she was a friend, a familiar presence in their daily lives,” wrote Charles.

Linda also helped her husband, who for a time had a fudge-making business. She enjoyed making fudge and taking it to craft and community events to sell. She also enjoyed trips to Myrtle Beach. “She didn’t like the water, but she enjoyed walking on the beach,” said Etta.  

Rain or shine, early or late, hot or cold, through darkness or daylight, dedicated and reliable carriers have delivered the printed news to our doors. I thank them and honor them for their service – a service that is no longer needed, but will always be missed.

As Charles aptly wrote in his article earlier this year, “In the end, it wasn’t the newspapers she (Linda Faye) delivered that mattered most, but the lives she touched along the way.” 

Linda Faye was laid to rest September 11 in the Blevins Cemetery. Just as her job went with time so had many of the people she had delivered the paper to over the years.