East Hempfield Township neighborhoods, dogs honor postal carrier who died following surgery

An enduring cliche about mail carriers is a wariness or outright dislike of dogs.

That wasn’t the case for Joani Sheaffer – a 53-year-old mail carrier from Salunga who died from complications following surgery on Oct. 14.

Sheaffer and dogs went together like letters and stamps. A Hempfield High School graduate, she worked for the U.S. Post Office for over 30 years and kept boxes of dog biscuits in her truck, delivered treats along with the mail to all the dogs on her route.