Mail carrier overcomes devastating stroke and keeps walking his route

Eddie Anderson wears many hats. Those of husband, father, brother and uncle happen to be his favorites but perhaps best known to the Lawton community is that of the diligent, humming letter carrier.

He’s had 38 years to adjust that cap.

“I love my job,” Anderson, 62, said nodding. “It gets me up in the morning.”

Between the camaraderie of fellow carriers at work and the acts of kindness demonstrated by his clientele, Anderson said his career for the Postal Service has been nothing short of a blessing.

“I know my customers and, to me, a lot of them are my friends,” he said.

“The service you give to your community members is the best part of being a mail carrier — getting to know everyone and coming into contact with them on a day-today basis.

“My postmaster and my supervisor say, ‘I pay your salary,’ but it’s really the people I deliver mail to — the people I serve — that pay my salary. I do all I do for the people I serve.”

Anderson can be spotted carrying out his route — and carrying a lot of tunes — near Comanche County Memorial Hospital most days. He prides himself on only 30 minutes’ worth of driving for nearly 400 stops, with the rest of his course “all dismount and walking.”

“I like having that closeness with my customers,” Anderson said. “A lot of the young (carriers) are being trained to speed, speed, speed. ‘Don’t talk,’ you know, ‘You don’t have time to talk.’ ”

He continued, with the wave of an index finger: “But that’s not the way for me. That’s not the post office I know or (represent).”

This down-home sense of service and self has followed Anderson since his early days in Channelview, Texas, a suburb of Houston. He was the son of a railroad worker and homemaker, the last of three children and the first in his family to complete college.

He received a bachelor’s degree in education from Cameron University in 1978 and married the love of his life, whom he met there, the same year. Along the way, Anderson made lifelong friends from four years on the Aggie football team and formed connections that led him to his career today. Lawton has been good to him, he says.

“I have gotten to know so many people in this community,” Anderson said. “I think I’ve had a lot of friends here, and I feel very fortunate. This is a community that reaches out to everybody and I like that. That’s something I didn’t have in Houston.”

Anderson has made a habit of reaching out to the men and women of Fort Sill. He appreciates the military families he is able to form relationships with through Paradise Valley Baptist Church, where he serves as music minister.

“It’s an unbelievable bond we share with Fort Sill,” Anderson said. “I see it being a mailman; I see it every day.”

Anderson teared up referencing a young captain in the Army who married a Syrian translator and became members of his church. The couple recently welcomed their first child and, although they are now stationed in Indiana, Anderson said he maintains contact with them and is ever grateful their paths crossed.

“It’s not just us,” he said, referring to his own family and congregation. “I know there are other families that do the same thing (in forming relationships with military families) around here, but it’s just such a special bond.”

It wasn’t too long ago when Anderson was the one who needed to be reached out to. Along his delivery route last May 11 he suffered a stroke.”I just sat down in my truck and lost all of my right side,” he said. “I couldn’t speak. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I finally got ahold of my wife on the phone and all I could do was cry.

Thanks to the Global Positioning System unit installed in Anderson’s carrier truck, he was found quickly by medical professionals and managed to survive the incident. Knowledgeable doctors, solid insurance and physical therapy appointments were appreciated, but it was the love of family and friends that pulled Anderson through.

“When this happened, I mean the people that I serve were sending cards and flowers,” he said. “I was getting two or three phone calls a day. It was that closeness that meant so much to me.”

Anderson attests he never lost mental capacity during his stroke, which puzzled him and his doctors. It was a horrific experience but couldn’t seem to shake his faith. Anderson hit his route again as soon as he could.”I’ve come through it well,” he said.

“God was looking out for me. I guess God has been looking out for me for a long time.”

Anderson followed up with additional examples of that holy patrol — three healthy and happy adult children, wonderful grandkids, an incredible wife and lovely home.

He has the honor of singing at local weddings and funerals, he says, and is currently scoping out more land to purchase for family horses. Life is full and retirement is nowhere in sight.

“I think the secret to life is family,” he said confidently.

“Cherish your family. Don’t worry so much about getting ahead. Spend time with your kids. Tell your wife you love her every day and that she’s beautiful. She’s going to tell you, ‘I am not, just stop it!’ but tell her anyways. And make sure you keep God in your life; make him part of the family.”

Two people died Saturday afternoon in separate wrecks along highways in Oklahoma City.

About 1:05 p.m., Samson was driving a motorcycle south at a high rate of speed on I-35 near Wilshire Boulevard. He attempted to change lanes and the motorcycle struck a southbound car knocking Samson to the ground. The motorcycle traveled across the cable barrier into the northbound lanes where it hit another car and caught fire, troopers said.

Troopers did not say whether Samson was wearing a helmet. He

died at the scene.

About 1:45 p.m., emergency crews responded to a single vehicle wreck along southbound Lake Hefner Parkway, near Memorial Road.

Oklahoma City police Capt. Arthur Gregory said a woman, who was not immediately identified, was driving a car, which swerved and struck a bridge embankment, before spinning out into the middle of the highway and catching fire.

Gregory said witnesses to the wreck ran to the burning vehicle and were able to get the woman out, but attempts to resuscitate her failed and she died at the scene.