Crash victim delivered letters, kindness
It was all in the delivery for Michael Cusick.
The 62-year-old Hamilton man had recently retired from Canada Post after more than three decades, but wasn’t ready to stop working.
He took contract and sporadic fill-in letter delivery work on rural routes and even delivered prescription drugs to elderly housebound patients.
“He would end up standing on the doorstep forever because he knew that for some of them, he would be the only person they talked to all day,” said daughter Stephanie Cusick. “He loved talking to people and he was always ready to help … He was the kind of person who just had to cross the room and see how you were doing if you were standing by yourself.”
Cusick died last Friday in a head-on collision in Grimsby on Woolverton Road at Kemp Road. Niagara Regional Police said a southbound car struck a cargo van around noon and then crossed the centre line on Woolverton Road, hitting Cusick’s northbound Dodge Caravan head-on.
The car driver, a still-unidentified 44-year-old Grimsby man, was also killed.
Family members were still in shock Monday as they shared memories about a Hamilton native who had a map of his beloved city imprinted on his brain.
“If you mentioned an area of the city, he would tell you the postal code,” said Cusick’s daughter, chuckling through tears. “He drove all over the city.”
That knowledge came with 34 years on the job for Canada’s postal agency — first as a letter carrier, not long after he married his wife, Margaret. Later, he worked in supervisory capacities and as a route measurement officer.
As a supervisor, Cusick was always ready to help out new carriers or fill in for a sick colleague to get the mail delivered.
“He was all about going above the call of duty,” said Stephanie. “‘I’ve got it covered.’ That was always his response.”
Cusick was an active member of his St. Margaret Mary parish’s Knights of Columbus service group. He also coached hockey and soccer — and memorably started his own side business, Tiger-Town Window Cleaning and Power Wash — to help pay the bills for rep hockey for his then-teenaged son.
“He did most of it with a mop and a squeegee, so really I guess he was the ‘power,’” said Vince.
Visitation is scheduled for Markey-Dermody Funeral Home on King Street East Wednesday from 2-4 p.m. and 6-9 p.m.