Once in a rare while, people touch your life and you realize you have been witness to something very special. I have had the honor of knowing two honest, trustworthy, exemplary people, Don and Marie Haynes. They were already featured in The Reflector this last week, but I am drawn to thank them personally and publicly for their 29 years of service to The Reflector.
I knew this day would come, but it does not come easily for me, nor likely for them. Not that they particularly wanted to move on, they say, but recognized that it was simply time. What a loss their absence brings. No, they didn’t write stories or sell ads.They didn’t design anything or run the presses. But they have done important work to the very best of their ability for nearly 3 decades, and without such work, our newspaper would never fulfill the reason we exist.
Many could shrug their shoulders at the societally perceived menial position of a newspaper carrier. It doesn’t require any special education or certification. But trust me, coming from someone who messily tried to perform this role with my husband decades ago, it is beyond tough. You are exposed to all sorts of weather, and your car must always run. There is constant stop and go, reaching and re-supplying. You must remember how many papers go in each tube, tube after tube, and remember who is wintering in Arizona. This was my most miserable job. To watch this couple go out each week, with a smile on their face, after already completing a life time career is simply astonishing. My dad would often say to them as they drove away, “It’s a nice day for a drive.” And of course they would always agree.
Our carriers receive notes taken from customers each week who have experienced trouble with their delivery. It has been long understood that Don and Marie get very few “love notes” and the ones they do receive are normally new customers, vacation stops or simply mislabeled. On the rare occasion that a mistake had been made, Don would always call the customer to make sure that the instructions were clear and that careful service was provided.
The fact that what he and Marie delivered was free, I’m sure rarely entered his mind. He is the kind of man who took his job achingly seriously, with pride and care in each newspaper rightly delivered. He would faithfully adjust his count by as few as 5 to 10 papers as to never be paid for excess papers undelivered.
He and Marie provided THE example of what being hard working means. They were meticulous in the care of their route and the patrons they served. They held tremendous personal accountability and drove the roads of Yacolt with diligence and thought each week. Oh, and they are both 87 years young.
I am richly blessed to have known Don and Marie for all of these years. They are dear to my heart partly because of my own history with this place, but mostly because of the kind of human beings they are and I will dearly miss them.
The little girl in me wants to jump up and down and demand things stay the same. But of course I’ve realized that things just don’t. And as the saying fittingly goes, “all good things must come to an end.” But hopefully new good things will arise as I’m sure Don and Marie’s customers will hope for, regarding their new carrier. I don’t envy the person I have chosen to fill their massive shoes. But I do believe she will do just fine.
I hope I always remember the integrity with which this couple chose to live their lives and wonder what kind of world this would be if there were a few more people like Don and Marie Haynes around. Thank you both for your example to me and the many who have been lucky enough to know you. Here’s to the next chapter of your lives! I am certain that whatever you do will always be met with the words, “job well done.”
With much love, admiration and appreciation.
(Publisher note: Amen!)
