Friends Give Retiree Stamp of Approval

A usually quiet, tree-lined street in Woodland Hills was bustling with activity Friday morning, as residents mingled with reporters and TV crews awaiting the arrival of mail carrier Fred Shaw.

A minor panic ensued when an unwitting visitor parked in the space where the 55-year-old postal worker normally parks his mail truck, the spot from which he makes his rounds every day on Deseret Drive, Calabash Street, Liahona Place and DeGovia, Larkwood, Willens, Almidor, Abbeyville and Heaven avenues.

The driver moved his car, and the waiting continued.

When the man of the hour finally arrived, fresh from his deliveries in the nearby El Camino Shopping Center on Mulholland Drive, he was embarrassed but pleased by all the attention and adoration.

Shaw was retiring after 35 years with the U.S. Postal Service and 30 years on the same delivery route on which he met his wife of 18 years, Lisa Guravitz, his 16-year-old son Anthony Guravitz-Shaw said, and those on his route are family friends.

“This is bittersweet,” Shaw said, as he loaded up his cart to start his last trip around the area. “I know it’s time to leave. There are things I want to do, but at the same time, it’s tough to leave these people.”

The carrier has brought them most of the significant news in their lives, residents said.

One older woman wondered whom she’d talk with about football games. Another man said he would miss exchanging books with Shaw, a fellow avid reader.

Shaw said he was encouraged many times by co-workers to put in for a transfer, to take a route that his seniority would afford him: a less-taxing route with mailboxes at the curb.

But he opted instead to stay where he was, with the people who had become his “friends and family.”

Giving him a grand send-off, residents along the route put out balloons with notes of good wishes attached. Many came out of their homes to give him presents, a goodbye hug and a peck on the cheek. A few tears were shed on both sides.

Not one to be idle, Shaw said he plans to continue to work part time after retirement. He said he has applied to be a library page and would like to work in a winery to learn all he can about wine.