After 1 million miles, carrier delivers last letter

"You don't realize it when you're driving 75 miles a day how it counts up in a year's time." -Florence Cooke, who traveled more than 1 million miles on her mail route without a wreck Florence Cooke knows many people in King William and King and Queen counties, though they may not know her.

When you deliver mail to the same homes for 31 years, you get to know the people through their letters, bills and packages.

If someone lost a loved one or experienced the thrill of a new baby, chances are Cooke knew about it.

And she'd whisper a little prayer or a celebratory cheer for strangers from the right-side driver's seat of her red Jeep mail truck as she pulled away from their mailbox.

Cooke retired yesterday as the rural carrier for the Walkerton Post Office in King and Queen after logging well over 1 million miles during the past three decades.

"I have loved my job all these years," Cooke, 65, said early yesterday morning as she sorted mail for the last time before setting off for her first King William stops.

Cooke was honored last fall by the National Safety Council as a member of the Million Mile Club, a distinction that few postal workers achieve. It's for those who reach 1 million miles without a wreck.

"You don't realize it when you're driving 75 miles a day how it counts up in a year's time," Cooke said. "I drive all those miles and I always just say a prayer and get out there and ask for safety, and I've been lucky so far."

Being in the community every day has given Cooke a perspective that few residents have.

"I have really nice people on both routes," she said. "I've gone through a whole lot with all of them."

"The good times, the bad times, when they've lost family members," she added. "They'd meet you at the box, and you see the sympathy cards."

She sees the little things, too.

"I know when the garden is coming up. I know when [a homeowner] painted the house. I know when the house goes up for sale."

There have been some characters along the way, too. One was the woman who called the post office to complain that "I threw rocks at her because I drove away from her mailbox so fast," Cooke said. The woman would hide behind trees in her yard hoping to catch Cooke when she delivered her mail.

"She finally moved, thank goodness," Cooke said. "She kind of gave me a fit there for a while."

Walkerton Post Master Gwen Bowman said she and Cooke have had a great partnership.

"I couldn't have asked for a better person to work with," Bowman said. The two women spent at least an hour with each other every morning for the last decade.

They are so close that "she says one thing, and I'd finish" her sentence, Bowman said, and vice versa.

Woodrow Clark, who owns Walkerton Auto Service, has been on Cooke's daily route. He has been known to pull Cooke out of a jam when her Jeep has problems.

"I think everybody's going to miss her," Clark said. "She's a very good woman and always tries to go beyond to help everybody."

Cooke said she's looking forward to retirement because she wants to do more volunteer work and maybe get into the investment property business with her daughter, who's a Realtor.

Shortly after she finished her routes late yesterday afternoon, she attended a community party in her honor. Then she headed to the King William Volunteer Fire and Rescue station, where she's a volunteer on Friday nights.

Cooke started as a postal worker in 1977 when the local carrier died suddenly. She said it was a job that allowed her to be close to home and her family. She never looked back.

"I would do it all over again," she said. "I honestly would."

Contact Holly Prestidge at (804) 649-6945 or .