Special deliverer

Mail carrier Don Young says goodbye to his faithful customers on Wednesday his last day on the job. (Photos by STEVEN LANE/The Columbian)

Mail carrier Don Young says goodbye to Southcliff neighborhood resident Shirley Holland on the last day of his 43 year career Wednesday. Young has delivered in this neighborhood for 17 years. (Steven Lane/The Columbian)

At age eight, Claire McCallum is too young to know that Sesame Street ditty about meeting the people in her neighborhood — you know, the teacher, the firefighter, the dentist, the grocer.

But she's known a starring player in that illustrious cast of characters all her short life.

Don Young has been the mail carrier for the DuBois Park and Southcliff neighborhoods of central Vancouver for 17 years. In that time, he's gotten to know a whole lot of faces, young and old, and made a whole lot of friends.

Many of those people stopped what they were doing Wednesday to shake Young's hand and gift him with a card, a balloon, a few bucks — or just a hug and a heartfelt thank you.

"He's just nice," Claire said of Young. "I see him almost every day."

"He is completely approachable and friendly," said Claire's mother, Amanda McCallum, who's lived in the neighborhood for just three years but nonetheless felt motivated to round up a bunch of kids and chase Young down to shower him with gifts and cards.

Starting today, the McCallums will be making what might be a tough adjustment: Wednesday was Young's last day on the job.

"It's weird," were his first words after capping off a 43-year postal service career with a final delivery to a fancy home on a cul-de-sac on Oregon Drive. His wife of 27 years, Cindy, was waiting to memorialize the moment with a digital camera and a warm hug. Don Young beamed.

"It's a shock, after this many years, to make the last delivery of my lifetime," he said. "I still like doing it. In 43 years, I really haven't ever had an unpleasant time."

But he's not getting any younger, he said, and after all that walking, his knee has had it. He devoted lots of his off time to being president of the letter carriers union, he said; now it's time to devote himself to his wife and their remaining years.

"It's the right time to enjoy life," he said.

The 61-year-old goes in for knee replacement surgery on Friday. In May, he'll preside over a letter carriers convention and continue to manage the local effort of the National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive, as he's done for years.

And in November, the Youngs — who live in the Walnut Grove area — will travel to Australia on an open-ended visit with their son, who was recently moved there by employer Microsoft.

They're not exactly sure how long they'll be away, Young said, and that's a nice novelty. It could be months.

"I want to be able to come back when I want," he said.

Young began his career in his native Minnesota, where his uncle and sister both worked for the postal service and urged him to try it, too.

He took the exam in early 1966 and within six weeks found himself walking an outdoor route in below-zero temperatures. Fortunately, the hardship route lasted just two weeks. After that, Young made the rounds of a 13-floor office building, three times a day, for two years.

The best story he's got from those early days: He was driving a mail truck and was broadsided by another vehicle that missed a stop sign. His truck rolled over, he said, but he was uninjured.

He's opened mailboxes to discover syringes, trash, ominous white powder — even a garter snake. He's suffered five dog bites on the job. He's delivered mail all over Clark County, he said, and didn't love every route.

But the wide streets and pleasantly manicured lawns of these Heights neighborhoods has been nothing but a pleasure, he said.

"What type of neighborhood you've got determines what you feel like when you're going to work," he said. "On pleasant days like this, you know why you're here."

"He's the last of an old-fashioned type of mail carrier — the type that keeps track of you," said Shirley Holland, 88. "We keep track of each other. I don't know what I'll do without him."

Scott Hewitt: 360-735-4525 or scott.hewitt@columbian.com.