Several USPS retirees made news in 2017, along with employees who concluded their postal careers.
Harold “Sundance” Thomas, a retired mail handler in Memphis, TN, performed on “America’s Got Talent,” while Charles Wiggins, a 100-year-old World War II veteran and former postal worker, received a tribute from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
A retired letter carrier, Jim Gaboardi of Bethel, CT, received almost 2,000 cards, letters and packages through a viral mail request shortly before his death.
Meanwhile, two retail associates who retired this year — David Gaskins of Washington, DC, and Howard Rogers of Cheraw, SC — were honored with parties where local community leaders delivered tributes to their careers.
Other retirees included Denny Graham, a Henderson, MN, rural carrier who delivered the last few miles of his route in a 1948 Plymouth he restored himself, and Garland Gralow, a letter carrier who spent 60 years on the same route in Melrose Park, IL.
Gralow’s achievement earned him lots of attention from co-workers and the news media.
“They say, ‘You must enjoy your job,’” he said. “I say, ‘For 60 years, you have to enjoy it.’”
The Link archive has more retiree stories from 2017.