NORTHAMPTON — As he walked his longtime route for the final time, mailman Bob Currie joked that there was some kind of “conspiracy” afoot.
At many of the houses, residents had put up handmade signs thanking Currie for his service. And while Currie, 66, said he had tried to avoid celebration around his retirement, he conceded that “the acknowledgment is very sweet.”
For just shy of 42 years, Robert Currie delivered mail in Northampton, and for almost 20 years he walked the same route, which covers around 500 households and businesses and now includes Vernon Street, Washington Place, Dryads Green and Paradise Road, among other streets. Over the span of his career, Currie delivered millions of pieces of mail.
Last Thursday, Currie made his final deliveries. Sporting a trim white beard, glasses and a worn leather mailbag, he chose to wear the first mail-carrier uniform he ever owned, a throwback to the 1970s. At the end of the day, he traded the uniform to a co-worker for a bottle of Scotch.