Nation’s Postal Workers Honor Slain Colleagues

The post office here and thousands of others across the nation fell silent Monday as workers remembered 14 colleagues who were killed last week at the hands of a disgruntled employee.

Meanwhile, the final funeral for a victim of the massacre was held when Betty Ann Jarred, 34, was buried on the day that would have been her third wedding anniversary.

After the moment of silence, which Postmaster General Preston R. Tisch ordered observed at all post offices, flags were raised back to full staff. They had been flying at half-staff since the shootings Wednesday by Patrick Henry Sherrill.

Card Angers Workers

Also Monday, angry postal workers in Irving, Tex., said they were misrepresented on a card that accompanied carnations sent to Sherrill’s grave. Sherrill shot himself after the rampage.

The note accompanying the floral arrangement sent to Oklahoma read: “From those who understood what he went through as a carrier. No one will ever know how far he was pushed to do what he did.” It was signed: “The letter carriers of Irving, Texas.”

Charlie Swanson, president of the National Assn. of Letter Carriers of Irving, Tex., said he had no idea who sent the flowers. “Someone has gone up there and misrepresented us,” he said.