Video: Coldspring, TX post office to be renamed in honor of slain rural mail carrier

3/01/17 – The Coldspring, TX post office will be renamed Friday in honor of slain postal carrier Eddie “Marie” Youngblood, who was shot and killed on May 17, 2013, while delivering mail on her rural route in Coldspring.

The renaming ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. Friday on the grounds of the post office, 14231 State Highway 150 W. The public is invited to attend.

The bill to rename the post office for Youngblood was written and sponsored by U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady (TX-08) and supported by the Texas delegation.

In a statement on the U.S. House floor on Sept. 20, 2016, Brady explained why he felt renaming the post office for Youngblood was a fitting tribute.

“Marie was so well-known on her route that her customers often stopped her just to chat as she made her deliveries. Tragically it was on this route she loved and where she was loved that her life was cut short. On May 17, 2013, this beloved daughter, mother and grandmother was killed in a senseless act of violence while she was simply doing her job,” Brady said. “Justice has not yet been served but it’s important that Marie’s life, not her death, define her legacy. While Marie may be gone, her legacy lives on in the lives she touched. Both of Marie’s sons work for the postal service and her loving husband, George, who visits her grave each and every day to keep the flowers fresh and gravesite pristine.”

Rep. Brady’s original statement proposing to rename Coldspring post office is below –

Rep. Brady sponsors bill to have Coldspring post office renamed for slain mail carrier

The family of Eddie Marie Youngblood, the Coldspring postal worker who was gunned down on May 17, 2013 while delivering mail, is still awaiting justice. The trial of the man accused of killing her, James Wayne Ham, has been delayed numerous times as the federal court system works through all of the steps necessary to prosecute him for capital murder.

Just before noon, May 17, 2013, Youngblood was shot multiple times at close range and then set on fire inside the Jeep Cherokee she used for mail delivery. The youngest of her two sons reportedly was on the phone with Marie when she was murdered and heard the shots being fired at her.

According to an affidavit from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston, which is prosecuting the case, the son also heard his mother pleading for her life before the call was disconnected.

George Youngblood Jr., the victim’s oldest son who also is a postmaster for the U.S. Postal Service, said the family has been asked by prosecutors how they feel about taking the death penalty out of the equation in return for a life sentence for Ham, but Youngblood Jr. said that is not enough.

“Everyone seems to care more about what he wants and feels but we want him to get the death penalty,” he said. “This has hurt my family so much. My father goes to the graveyard every day to visit my mother. We are not doing good at all.”

The trial for Ham is scheduled for November 2016 but more continuances could be filed before then that would further stall the case.

While justice has been delayed for the Youngblood family, if all goes as planned, they won’t wait long for a lasting tribute to be made in her memory.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady (TX-08), whose nine-county congressional district includes San Jacinto County, is sponsoring a bill to have the Coldspring post office renamed in Youngblood’s honor.

“There is nothing that can bring her back but this can pay tribute to the joy she brought to the world,” Brady said. “The House members from Texas have agreed to co-sponsor our bill, and so it is scheduled to be considered by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on July 12. After that, the bill will go to the House and then the Senate for approval, and finally to the President.”

Brady also is working with local officials in San Jacinto County who he says are enthusiastic about the post office renaming.

It could be September before the House votes on the bill, and some time later for the Senate, so it could be late fall or winter before a celebratory event is planned at the Coldspring post office.

Youngblood Jr. says his family feels honored that Brady is pushing the bill.

“She put a lot of hard work and dedication into her job at the post office. This will give the community something to remember her by,” he said.

Youngblood Jr. also credits the National Rural Letter Carrier Association for supporting the renaming effort and hopes to bring attention to the perils rural mail carriers confront every day.

“A lot of people don’t realize the dangers rural mail carriers face going out and delivering mail and packages to people’s homes,” he said.

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