Beyond a customer, (above and) beyond customer service

A few weeks ago, tornadoes struck again in Central Alabama. One of the places hit particularly hard was Center Point. Then, we brought you pictures of the post office and of the school across the street, which was destroyed. Click here to revisit that post.

Center Point Elementary School after the storm. 

It wasn’t until several days later that we learned about the heroism of two Center Point postal employees that morning.

Immediately following the storm, clerks Sylvia Chwalek and David Lawler left the post office on foot a little after 5 a.m. with only a flashlight to make their way down a dark stretch of what used to be a road.

They were headed towards the home of George Linley, and 84-year-old customer who lives behind the exploded school.

                                                        

David Lawler and Sylvia Chwalek across from George Linley's house.

Mr. Linley is friendly with both David and Sylvia, but he has a special fondness for Sylvia. “David and I both know him, but he comes in to see me every day,” said Sylvia.

“Every day,” David said.

Sylvia continued. “My husband was his mailman at his house. When Mr. Linley’s wife became ill with Alzheimer’s, he came in and got a p.o. box. Once he got the box, we started seeing him every day. His wife passed away four or five years ago.”

“He brings me a drink and candy every day, and if he’s not coming, he’ll call and tell me that he’s not going to be able to make it,” Sylvia said.

When David arrived at work the morning of the storm, he heard Sylvia discussing Mr. Linley with a co-worker.  They knew that he had just gotten out of the hospital after having been there for five weeks and worried that his neighbors were not aware that he was back at home. “His house was right over there. I knew how bad it was, so I said to Sylvia, ‘Let’s go.’”

“I got my flashlight, and we both just took off on down the road,” said David.

The road to Mr. Linley's house a week after the storm. The Center Point Post Office is located in the structure at the top of the hill. 

Struggling to avoid downed power lines and trees in the near dark while hearing the hiss of a ruptured gas meter, the two-block trip took them 45 minutes.

“At one point, David said to me, ‘Let me go on,’ because he didn’t want me to get up there and see it all. I said, ‘No, I’m coming.’” Sylvia said.  “We couldn’t just walk down the street. We had to go from one side of the street to the other, over and under stuff.”

When they finally arrived, Sylvia banged on the door until he answered. It took him several minutes to answer because it was pitch black inside, and he was weak.

“He was scared,” David said. “He said that he was okay except for his oxygen. There was no place to plug it in.”

It was then that David decided to have Sylvia stay with Mr. Linley while he hiked back up the hill to get help.

Back at the top, he told the firefighter that down the hill was an elderly man who needed immediate medical attention.

“They came with me all the way back down there. They checked him and said, ‘We need to find some oxygen for him.’ They determined that what Mr. Linley had available was only going to last another 45 minutes and said, ‘We need to get him out of here,’” said David.

Four rescue workers carried Mr. Linley up the hill on a chair while David carried their gear and Sylvia stayed close by to comfort Mr. Linley.

“Before we got there, the sun started coming up, and we could see more. I said, ‘How did we even get down here?’” said Sylvia.

Mr. Linley’s two daughters, Debra Linley and Theresa Hall, are rural carriers in Tuscumbia, which is a 2.5 hour drive from Center Point. It was Debra Linley who called to tell us about Sylvia and David.

“David and Sylvia took their lives into their own hands to rescue my father,” said Debra. “His oxygen was down to 70, and fluid had built up around his heart. They saved his life.”

Debra also went on to say that this is not the first thing that Sylvia has done for her father. After Mr. Linley’s wife died, Sylvia always made sure that he was okay.  “If Dad didn't get to the post office by a certain time, Sylvia would call and check on him. And she is no relation to us,” said Debra.

“I can’t say enough good things about her and David. They deserve the highest award possible.”