William Hadfield was born in Provo, Utah on 3 June 1879 to Samuel and Alice Baker Hadfield. William was five when his mother died. His father remarried twice but the marriages didn’t last long. By the time William was 10, his father was working away from home during the week, leaving William and his brothers home alone. They ended up getting into trouble and became wards of the court until suitable homes could be found. The judge asked Thomas Rees Jones from Lehi to take William into his home and raise him. William married Charlotte Gough on 28 June 1905.

William Hadfield served as Lehi’s rural mail carrier for more than 37 years. On 7 March 1907, the postmaster accompanied William on his first trip around Lehi’s 22½ mile rural route in an open buggy. When they neared the Jordan River, the buggy became mired in a deep mud hole, and they had to climb out of the buggy onto a barbed wire fence. After struggling for an hour, they were finally able to pull the buggy out. At the end of the day William was second guessing his decision to take the job. 

Later that year he bought a one-horse red mail wagon to use on his route. His wagon was often so full of mail and packages there was barely enough room for him. In the winter he modified his wagon with runners converting it into a sleigh. When the snow drifted deep, he had to use hand sleighs to deliver packages from the main road to the mailboxes. Many times, he was the only one traveling on the winter roads.

Eventually his mail wagon was replaced with more current forms of transportation and his route increased to 26½ miles, but the daily friendly greeting and cheerful smile his customers received remained the same. William truly cared about the customers on his route. During the Great Depression the Fowler family was facing a bleak Christmas. Their oldest son had left home under “strained” circumstances, and the parents had no extra money to provide Christmas for the rest of their children.

Unbeknownst to them, their son was a homesick and mailed a large care package with gifts for each member of the family. The package arrived in Lehi on Christmas Eve while William was making his deliveries. He saw the package when he returned to the post office. He chose to load it on his truck and headed out again. 

Meanwhile at the Fowler home, the parents were heartsick watching their children hang up their Christmas stockings knowing that Santa would not be coming that year. The sun was just setting when William pulled up their drive in his mail truck. They met William outside as he was getting the box out of his truck. William said, “Here’s a package from Montana, folks. We thought it might be important enough to deliver on Christmas Eve.” Then as he drove away, he shouted, “Merry Christmas!” He had no idea how important that package was for the Fowler family. It was truly an answer to many prayers.