Wednesday, December 21, 2011

105 Years of Happy

Former City Carrier Walter Mitchell and his boss
former Postmaster Thomas Costin. Courtesy itemlive.
In Lynn, MA, former letter carrier Walter Mitchell was featured in a news article when fellow Postal employees gathered to observe his birthday.

Walter, who will turn 105 on December 22, was hired by the Postal Service in 1934 when he was just out of the Navy.

The story generated some interesting comments from readers.

"I remember 'Whistling Walter.'"
"I have fond memories, he was a happy guy."
"God Bless you Walter."
"I was young and lived on Bedford Street. All the kids loved him."
"Thank you Walter for taking the time to stop and talk."
"We would all follow him around his route."

Walter's own mailman now, Paul Kotkowski, remembers when Walter was his mailman back in the 50s and 60s. "To this day I remember him stopping to play football with us and we'd push his cart around." Katowski also said that when he goes to see his mother now in his postal uniform, she will still ask "How's Walter?"

To read more visit:   http://itemlive.com/articles/2011/12/15/news/news02.txt

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

He was hired by the Post Office Dept.!
He's been around longer than the Postal Service will be ;)

Exhume said...

Postal Employee or not, some of our Elders have such knowledge that it is truly impressive. I wonder how much his starting wage was or what was the all the rage back in the day. Carriers whom deliver the same route for a decade or two are often looked upon as a family member. They see our children grow up, go to college and return with children of their own. It is a shame that many of these aspects have changed now that the Post Office wants CBU's everywhere and that it sometimes takes "Hardship" paperwork just to get your mail delivered to your door when it use to be common place.

It is not just e-mail that has killed the Post Office.