Meet the Record-Breaking Letter Carrier Who Has Delivered Mail Since Stamps Cost 3 Cents
The postal worker has long been cherished. As far back as 425 B.C. the Greek historian Herodotus, is said to have written this about the postal couriers in The Persian Wars.
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
For 70 years Johnnie Bell has taken that to heart. Just last week Bell, a senior letter carrier in Oklahoma City was celebrated as the longest-tenured post office employee in the United States.
“This is just something I do because I enjoy doing it,” Bell told the TV station KOCO. Now a great-grandfather, Bell was 23 when he began working at the post office after serving in the Navy.
Back then a stamp was 3 cents, (now it costs 60 cents), and he was making $1.81 an hour. There was a time that he had to take a city bus to deliver mail. And in seven decades, he was bitten two times while on the job.
Through it all, Bell continues to have tons of fun as he adores laughing and engaging with customers. “He just loves everyone, and he has a way of just being magic and just drawing everyone together to where they just all felt like family,” his co-worker Stephanie Fiordelisi shared with KOCO. “If there were more Johnny Bells around, then the Postal Service would be a better place.”
When honored as the longest-serving mail carrier in 2017 Bell told News 9 that he would never retire. ”I've been blessed,” said Bell. “I'm going to tell you something. I’ve been blessed.”
