Employee Story: Most Important Delivery
In 28 years with the Postal Service, one delivery stands out in my mind as the most important delivery I have ever made. It was a cold winter’s day in 1989 and I was delivering the cremated remains of a gentleman killed in the Lockerbie Scotland Bombing. My supervisor informed me that his wife and family were greatly anticipating his remains returned, and I should make it my first delivery. Lockerbie was the first real terrorist incident that hit home for most folks, myself included. I remember quite clearly walking up the stairs to their English Tudor home, shaking with cold and nervousness, unsure of the response that I was going to receive. I rang the doorbell with tears in my eyes, wondering how these folks would go on living with the knowledge that their relative’s life was taken away so horribly.
When the door opened, the wife smiled and immediately put me at ease. She took the package out of my shaking hands and thanked me profusely for being so professional about getting it to them so promptly. I could not utter a single word!
I walked down the walkway and got back into my truck with the knowledge that perhaps I can’t change the trajectory of their lives, but for one moment, I came through for them in such a way that brought them peace. The peace in the knowing where their loved one was now finally home.
Stacey A. Preble
Supervisor
Revere, MA