A popular Ohio mail carrier was showered with thanks and congratulations at nearly every home along his mail route on his last day before retiring.
heartwarming video Photographed by one of his daughters It shows neighbors greeting local postal worker Bill Buda with balloons, lawn signs, posters, cards and lots of cheers and hugs.
Mr. Buda, who worked for an American company for the first time, spent 31 years as a U.S. Postal Service carrier, 24 and a half of those years on the same 19.2-mile route.
He said he watched neighboring families introduce their newborns and then watched the babies grow up and graduate from high school and college. Good Morning America interview.
“Suddenly, a sign appears in the yard that says, 'Congratulations, you've had a baby boy!' and before you know it, it says, 'Congratulations, you've graduated from high school!' And then, 'Congratulations, you've graduated from college! I just graduated!'' Buda said.
“So if you look at all of these things from beginning to end; [it’s] Unforgettable. I'll never forget it,'' Buda said with a big smile.
The father of two adult daughters says he realizes that many people mistakenly think the job is “simple” and that it's much more than sorting mail and getting it to the right address. No, he said.
“They don't know that you're snooping on the elderly. They're checking to see if the garage door should be closed when the kids get home from school, and for some reason the door doesn't close. is open,” Buda said on the show. “[If] email [starts] You should contact someone because it's piling up. ”
In doing so, postmen left their mark on the community. On the final day, he received countless “congratulations'' and “happy retirement'' greetings from residents who took pictures with him.
“It really hit me that I had spent the last 31 years of my life.” [in] Every conceivable bad weather. It’s all the little things,” he said. “It's the neighbor's job to join the kids in drawing on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk.”
He received warm congratulations from almost every venue, and he called the send-off “absolutely wonderful.”
“I mean, I could have stayed out until midnight,” Buda joked to GMA.
Mr. Buda's final day was made even more special by his family joining him on his route and seeing many of the people he had seen almost every day for the past 24 and a half years.
“People will never forget how you made them feel,” his daughter Alexa Buda said of her father in the caption of a video she shared on Instagram.
The tear-jerking clip has been viewed around 700,000 times, with many viewers saying it made them cry.
Several commenters exclaimed about the impact their mail carriers have on their communities. One person said that when their grandparents died, former and current mail carriers came to the funeral.
There were also some comments from people along Buda's own route.
“Your dad was always so kind to me. I'll never forget the way he congratulated me when I delivered my diploma from Kent State University,” one woman wrote under the video.
“Love this! Best postman ever, he will be missed in our city,” another commented.
Buda said he couldn't think of a better way to end his 31-year career.
“As soon as it was over, we looked at each other and literally said, 'This is it,'” he said. “This was the best send-off. What a way to walk.”
