When Rick Pippin shut the door on his last rural route mail delivery Wednesday, he also called a halt to his career as a postal carrier.
Pippin was the rural route carrier for the Henryetta post office and retired this week after nearly two decades.
A retirement party was held at the post office Wednesday morning to mark the occasion.
Pippin started carrying the mail in 1998 after being encouraged to go apply for the opening. Since then, he has logged several thousand miles keeping residents along his rural route in touch with letters and circulars.
His most memorable day of carrying the mail came last November when he found an infant in the road with the nearest house nearly a mile away.
“He was just a baby, still wearing a diaper and covered with mosquitoes,” Pippin said. Unable to give directions, the child could only point to a nearby house and Pippin took him there. No one was home there and the child was asked again where his house was. “He pointed in another direction.”
Pippin said he couldn’t leave the child there so he called back to the post office and told them of the situation.
It took some time, but a grandmother was finally found and took the child in.
Because of that concern, Pippin received the “Hero” award from the postal service. It was presented to him by the regional manager. That certificate was prominently displayed at the retirement party Wednesday.
Even though he will no longer be worrying about getting the mail to the right place, Pippin will still be helping his neighbors in the Plainview area.
He is a member of the Plainview volunteer fire department and has often been called upon to battle a fire after a long day of driving the county roads with the mail.
“I’m going to spend more time with the fire department and write some grants to help get better equipment,” he said.
“We are going to miss Rick but wish him well. He has been a dedicated carrier and has done an outstanding job,” said Henryetta post master Shellie Padilla.