Delivering mail is the only job Joe Brown has ever had. Since he returned from the army in 1969, Brown — known by his colleagues at the Bayberry Post Office as “Joe B.” — has let neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night keep him from delivering the mail.
Most of his 46 years as a mounted carrier (one who drives to deliver letters rather than walks from door to door) have been on the same route, but that ends May 29 with Joe B.’s retirement.
For Brown’s retirement party May 7, the back room of Jake Hafner’s Restaurant and Tavern was packed with co-workers past and present, well-wishers and most importantly, the reason he’s retiring — Sharon Burdick, or as Brown calls her, “my lady.”
“If it wouldn’t have been for the lady, I wouldn’t have retired,” Brown said.
“He loves his job and I would never ask him to [leave],” Burdick said. “He said everyone told him he’d know when it was time.”
Brown isn’t giving up his gig for just any girl. He and Burdick have a unique love story. Back in 1967, Burdick and Brown were high school sweethearts, engaged to be married. But their courtship didn’t survive Brown’s overseas service — when he returned to the States in 1969, Burdick had moved on.
About three years ago, the two former flames — both widowed with children — reconnected over a phone call. Burdick said she didn’t recognize the number on her caller ID that day.
“I never answer the phone if I don’t know the number, and I answered that day,” she said. “We’ve had our lives and now, here we are. I just think it was meant to be.”
The route
Much of Brown’s story seems like it was “meant to be.” He got the job at the post office through a friend’s brother and never worked anywhere else. He just thought he’d see what would happen.
“I’m 68 years old and I still don’t know if I want to be a mailman,” Brown said.
Brown said he has enjoyed the solitude and independence that come with delivering mail to 748 houses each day. “Nobody’s looking over your shoulder,” he said.
He never wanted to move up the chain to postmaster; he was content with his route.
“That must have been my forté in life,” Brown said. “They wanted me to be a boss; I didn’t want to be a glorified babysitter.”
Despite other people’s assumptions, Brown said his job has been anything but monotonous. He’s gotten to know the residents on his route: he’s seen their children grow up, leave for college and return with kids of their own. He looks out for the older folks, whom he says he’ll miss most of all. And he’s only been bitten by a dog once.
A few times, Brown has come to the rescue of some of his mail recipients. One young woman had locked herself inside her office; Brown climbed through a window to get her out.
Another time, he came across a young girl sobbing at her mailbox — not over a missed letter, but because she’d gotten her finger stuck in a hole in the mailbox. The girl’s mother was hysterical, but Brown sent her inside for some dish soap. With a little jimmying, Brown freed the girl’s finger.
“Every single day, it’s different. That’s what I like about it,” he said.
As for Brown’s co-workers, it’s clear he’ll be missed.
“The guy’s a living legend,” one post office alumnus said at Brown’s retirement party, adding that Brown delivers the mail at a “furious pace.”
Brown downplays his local fame, though, saying: “I’m just a down ol’ country boy in the big city who made well.”
Charles “Tip” Tipton started at the post office a year after Brown.
“I’m not going to miss him,” Tipton said. “If he calls me, we’re going out.”
Another former co-worker, who only gave her first name, Perry, said Brown never misplaced a piece of mail.
“He’s the most accurate mail sorter I ever knew in my life,” she said.
Next stop
Although Brown lives in Clay and Burdick lives in Lyons Falls (near Brown’s hometown of Lowville), they call and visit each other frequently and are looking forward to spending their golden days traveling and golfing.
Burdick said Brown had enough international travel during his time in the service, so they’ll be sticking to domestic road trips.
“There’s a lot to see in this country,” Brown said.
It seems Brown will tackle his retirement with the same philosophy as he has with his career: “just go day by day.”
“We’re both low-key,” he said of his plans with Burdick. “We’ll just hang with it.”
