Dec. 31 marks not only the end of 2016 but also the end of Dave Cady’s 43-year career in Flossmoor with the U.S. Postal Service. Cady, 65, who recently announced his retirement, has worked out of the Flossmoor Post Office for his entire career.
proclamation presented
by Flossmoor Mayor Paul
Braun. Cady was honored
for his long postal service
in the village. (Provided photo
by Christopher Paicely/Village
of Flossmoor)
Dec. 31 marks not only the end of 2016 but also the end of Dave Cady’s 43-year career in Flossmoor with the U.S. Postal Service.
Cady, 65, who recently announced his retirement, has worked out of the Flossmoor Post Office for his entire career.
Cady was honored with an appreciation day at the post office on Dec. 3. The event featured a proclamation honoring his service presented by Flossmoor Mayor Paul Braun.
During a recent interview at Flossmoor Station, nearly everyone passing the table where he was sitting stopped and talked with Cady and told him how much they were going to miss him.
Among those who stopped to greet him, were Steffi Bierig, a 50-year Flossmoor resident, and her son, Joel.
Mrs. Bierig, who is in her 90s, still drives and has a postal box, Cady said.
“She still comes in every day, without fail, to pick up her mail,” he said.
Cady has many memories of his long career. For 20 years he walked a route, east of the railroad tracks and west of Western Avenue. He covered streets with golf-related names like Brassie, Braeburn, Caddy, Bunker and Golfview.
“I can still name 80 to 90 percent of who lived in each house back then,” Cady said. “I knew their names better than the addresses.” He walked an average of 12 miles a day covering his route.
Asked if he had ever been bitten by a dog while delivering the mail, Cady remembered one animal, about 30 years ago, that was “big and vicious.”
“He lived on a street that had only five houses on it, but if I saw him out I would not go down the street that day,” Cady said.
The dog, he said, “would attack anything, even the wheels of the truck.”
Cady was once stung by a bee while on his route and thought nothing of it until he was back at the post office and started having trouble breathing. He was taken to the emergency room. It turned out he is allergic to bee stings.
“I didn’t know I was allergic, because I had never been stung before,” he said, laughing.
He also recalled an elderly lady on his route who would always have a cup of hot soup waiting for him on really cold days. Her name was Anna Werner and she was nearly 100 years old.
“She was amazing,” Cady said. “She would be there waiting for me with that soup.”
And there were many cold days. Recalling the deep freeze of 1983 when temperatures remained below zero for nearly a week – it was 25 below on Christmas Eve — Cady said that the carriers were not allowed to cover their routes unless they went out two by two.
“The weather was so severe, they did not want us out alone, in case something happened,” he said
After 20 years on his route, Cady knew that he needed to move inside.
“It was a physical necessity,” he said. “My knees and back were telling me it was time to make a change.”
Cady said he took pride in his job.
“My goal was to give the customer the best service possible, the quickest and most accurate, get them in, take care of them and get them on their way,” he said.
“I have always been loyal to the postal service, probably to a fault, and the people of Flossmoor have always been so great. I feel like Flossmoor is my second home.”
Although Cady and his wife, Crystal, live in Park Forest, he said they often brought their children to Flossmoor to go trick-or-treating on his route.
“My customers asked us to do that. In a way, they were like family, just wonderful people.”
Asked what he would miss most about leaving the post office, Cady was quick to reply that he would miss all his nice customers and the friends he and his wife have made in Flossmoor.
He added, however, that he would miss his longtime co-worker, Pat Jefferson.
“She is a gem,” he said. “We have worked side by side for 11 years. It will be hard not seeing her every day. She and I and a former co-worker, Colleen Latos, who retired five years ago, were a perfect team. They are just great people, and it will be hard to say goodbye.”
Cady was asked if he had any final thoughts about his retirement.
“Forty-three years working in the same building, on a job I loved and 41 years of a happy marriage with three great children,” he said. “If that’s my crowning achievement, I will take it any day.”
He said his plans for retirement include maybe playing a little golf, a little yard work and doing some volunteering.
“And not answering to an alarm clock,” he said.