Morris Wilkinson: 70 years of service

On Tuesday, friends, co-workers, and Postal officials gathered at the Center Point Post Office to commemorate 92-year-old Letter Carrier Morris Wilkinson's 70 years of federal service, which makes him the longest-serving letter carrier in the entire United States.

“Morris Wilkinson epitomizes the Postal carrier. He is a veteran of the Marine Corp, and he comes to work every day like a Marine—that’s what he looks like. He’s prompt, he does a great job, he doesn't call in sick. He’s an example to everybody else," said Supervisor Lonnie Williams.

"If I had to think about one bad thing about Morris, I guess that I’d just be up a creek in a chicken wire canoe because I couldn’t think of anything," said Williams.



Lonnie Williams and Morris Wilkinson

Almost every person we spoke with about Morris began their stories with how he comes to work early each morning in a perfectly creased uniform, with every hair in place and his shoes freshly shined (everyone mentioned Morris' shiny shoes). He raises the flag on a pole in his yard before heading out. The habits that he learned in the military remain ingrained in him to this day.

Most of you already are familiar with Mr. WIlkinson's military background, but for those who aren't, we'll give a brief summary. His national service began in World War II. As a Marine, he served for two years in the Pacific campaign before pulling guard detail at Warm Springs, Georgia, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Little White House. He ate with Roosevelt in the mess hall and swam with him in the springs when off-duty personnel were invited to join the President.

Since then, he was been a letter carrier with the Postal Service. He has been delivering mail on his current route since 1967, where he is known for going the extra mile for his customers. "Sometimes, he goes after work and picks up groceries for some of his older customers who can't drive anymore," said Center Point Manager Tommy Morrison.

Tommy Morrison, Mike Allison, Morris Wilkinson, John Richardson, Lonnie Williams, Sandor Jacobs

Acting Birmingham Postmaster Mike Allison opened the ceremony by expressing his admiration and gratitude to Morris, and then introduced Alabama District Manager William Mitchell. Mitchell presented three other Center Point employees with years-of-service awards (we'll have that in a separate post) and then gave Morris a golden eagle trophy along with a plaque from the District, which was created especially for the occasion because 70-year pins do not exist.

SW Area Vice President Linda Welch came from Texas to participate in this special day. "I have never met anyone with 70 years of federal service, so it is my honor to be here today," she said.

To Morris, she delivered a letter from Postmaster General Pat Donahoe. "It is impossible to measure the amount of people who have learned from you and have benefitted from your example....Your example has given inspiration and hope to many people."

Then, she showed Morris a sample of the commemorative coin that he will be receiving. Unfortunately, the real coin had been shipped Express Mail to Alabama, but it had not arrived in time.

Everyone but Morris groaned with disappointment. "This is what our customers feel like when they're expecting something and we don't deliver," Welch said to the crowd.


William Mitchell, Morris Wilkinson, Linda Welch

"I am proud to be part of an organization that has someone of your caliber," Welch concluded. 

Earlier in the ceremony, Mitchell had said, "People in the Postal Service are more like a family than any other business you'll run into, " and this was evident in the amount of emotion displayed by everyone in the room. There was much applause for Wilkinson, and many tears were shed all around.

Lonnie Williams is the person who best described the collective feelings of the group: "There is a genuine love for Morris here. Not just respect--we all love him. Morris Wilkinson is a national treasure."


Center Point Post Office staff with Morris Wilkinson


After the celebration, Morris did as he has done for the past 70 years: cased the day's mail and left to deliver to his customers.