Breaking Barriers: The Unstoppable Legacy Of Oklahoma’s First Female Letter Carrier

There always has to be a "first" in anything, but it’s a challenge most people don't ever take on. If there is one thing about Leota Hartsell, it’s that you never tell her she can’t do something.

“My second brother taught me that I could do anything,” said 92-year-old Leota Hartsell.

It was a determination that was instilled in her at an early age. “Before I was ten, I was sawing wood,” said Hartsell.

Never having excuses and backing down from a challenge. “So of course I have just always done, pretty much what I wanted to do,” said Hartsell.

She started working at the post office in 1963. “We were working six days a week, twelve hours a day, no overtime,” said Hartsell.

She worked various jobs at the post office, but her heart was set on one job from the beginning, and she wrote the postmaster to inform him of her intentions. “Since the Civil Rights Act has passed, women are going to be next. I’ve thrown forty- and fifty-pound packages ten to twenty feet, I think I have proved that I can carry those two-ounce letters,” said Hartsell.

That letter initiated a meeting and within two weeks she was carrying letters.

She became the first female letter carrier in Oklahoma, a promotion that wasn’t received well by everyone. “He was there when I started, and actually, he quit the post office,” said Hartsell. 

She was eventually promoted to supervisor and even served as a postmaster. “I retired October the second of 1992,” said Hartsell.

But for Hartsell, retirement has not slowed her down at all, even at 92 years old. “I built that cabinet, and that bar there. I made this wall,” said Hartsell.

It’s not at all uncommon to catch Hartsell on a ladder or working in her yard. “I’ve never listened to anyone tell me I can’t do anything,” said Hartsell.

And as she reflects on her accomplishments, she knows that she has made a difference. “There’s lots of women carriers now, and I am pleased about that,” said Hartsell.

Now even at 92, she is still not the person to say she can’t do something, in fact, even in this heat, she just cuts and edges her yard whenever it needs it.