It wasn’t the old saying neither rain, nor snow, nor heat that had him retiring, but his age, says Chester Reed, is 95. He just decided it was time to call it quits. The fork lift operator retired Wednesday as the nation’s oldest postal worker, ending a career without taking a single sick day. He attributes his longevity to a healthy diet of watermelon, alkaline water and an onion sandwich with mayo every day.
“If everyone in the nation ate watermelons, they’d get rid of all the doctors,” Reed said.
Although he’s totally deaf and walks stooped over, Reed has worked for more years than many of his co-workers have been alive and has accrued 3,856 hours — nearly two years — of sick leave for not missing a shift in 37 years. Reid was hired in 1973, and has been a U.S. Postal Service mail handler and forklift operator and back then he made $4 an hour, and finally worked up to $25-an-hour ceiling about 10 years ago.
He worked the 2:30 to 11pm shift, and logged in more than 12 hours some days. On Wednesday, a retirement ceremony was thrown for him, with about 100 people in attendance. He was presented with a plaque bearing about 40 stamps that depict locations he visited or activities he enjoyed, as many in the audience wiped away tears. Reid and his 59 year old son still travel, and try to go to one continent a year, which now numbers 5 in their journey. He is planning another trip that will include Moscow, Helsinki and Dublin, and a second parasailing adventure in Rio de Janeiro. He last parasailed two years ago, at age 93.
He was born in Ohio in 1914, as the son of an auto mechanic and a housewife. After high school, he worked on Ford Model Ts in his dad’s auto shop. In 1944, Reed met his wife Iva Katherine, a dance instructor, on the dance floor and enlisted in the Air Force three years later. While in the military, he went through physical conditioning with pilots, is evident in the rigid discipline surrounding his health. It’s his favorite topic of conversation, said Reed’s co-worker Verna Ortiz, 50.
He believes in drinking alkaline water, to minimize acids that can damage digestive system, and eating sandwiches made “with a lot of mayonnaise and get a big slice of onion” because the vegetable is closely related to garlic, one of the healthiest foods you can eat, he said.
Chester is one of seven siblings, and has outlived all but the youngest, a 65-year-old who lives near San Diego. Reed’s other son died of cancer at age 58 a few years ago, and Reed’s wife died soon after. And while he may not be going to a job anymore, he’s still working hard.
Dr. Rolland Reed Kerr, Ph.D.
/ 09/15/2011I’m proud to be a Buckeye and his nephew, and learning from his habits. One can learn more about life from someone who has lived it well much more than any doctor, including yours truly.