Florida post office named after RPCV Pamela Jane Rock (Guatemala)

RPCV in the news —

Mauled Florida mail carrier who died from 5-dog attack to be honored with post office naming

A post office in Florida will soon be renamed for a mail carrier who died in 2022 after being viciously mauled by dogs.

The Pamela Jane Rock Post Office at 859 North State Road 21 in Melrose will be dedicated on Monday, Aug. 26, the United States Postal Service said in a release. Rep. Aaron Bean, R-District 4, and Rep. Kat Cammack, R-District 3, sponsored a bill to dedicate the facility to her and President Biden signed it into law in May.

“Pam had a servant’s heart, and it was obvious in the way she lived her life. While her time on this earth was tragically cut short, she served the U.S. Post Service with passion and integrity,” said Congressman Bean. “I’m looking forward to this special renaming ceremony where we will be able to see Pam’s name on display for the first time, officially memorializing her commitment to Floridians.”

What happened to mail carrier Pamela Jane Rock?

Pamela Jane Rock (Guatemala 1991-93)

Rock, 61, was delivering mail on Aug. 21, 2022, when her vehicle broke down in the Interlachen Lake Estates area, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. Her brother Tom Rock later said she had called for help and was delivering mail on foot.

Witnesses said they heard a woman screaming for help and found Rock on the ground being mauled by five dogs. Several neighbors attempted to pull the dogs off and one shot a rifle into the ground to frighten them away, they said.

First responders did what they could, even restarting her heart at one point, and the severely wounded Rock was transported to a hospital and then flown to a trauma center in Gainesville. While attempting to save her doctors were forced to amputate her right leg, her right arm and her left ear, Tom Rock said. Despite their efforts, Rock died the next day. She had been with the mail service for seven months.

The neighbor with the rifle, Richard Carr, told First Coast News that the dogs had been a nuisance before but were usually kept in their owner’s yard. Investigations by the Putnam County Sheriff and the State Attorney’s Office revealed a history of attacks involving the same dogs in previous months. The State Attorney’s Office declined to file charges against their owner as the owner had tried to surrender them twice, including once 10 days before the attack, according to News4Jax.

Who was Pamela Jane Rock?

Plantation, Florida native Rock was the youngest of 14 children.

“After graduating from the University of Florida, she worked for the Alachua County Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program” Tom Rock, said. “She also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in (Guatemala 1991-93)  and later worked on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana teaching nutrition. She vociferously advocated on Capitol Hill for the needs of women and children trapped in poverty before joining the Postal Service as a letter carrier in January 2022.”