BOARDMAN After 43 years, postman takes retirement route

Thursday was his last day on the job.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Al Frazzini has spent the past four decades making his way through two area neighborhoods delivering mail, talking to residents, making friends and occasionally chastising wayward youths.
Thursday afternoon that all came to end when Frazzini, 62, placed his last envelope in the mailbox of a Tracy Drive home. With 43 years and six months under his belt, Frazzini is retiring.
Terry Lyons, postal supervisor, said a 43-year stint in the postal service is unusual. She said most guys put in about 30 years before retiring from the post office. Postal workers are required to be at least 55 and have worked 25 years before retiring, she said.
Frazzini became a postman after he had problems finding other employment as a disabled veteran -- he is blind in one eye. It was the people, however, who kept him in the job so long after he was eligible to retire.
"I guess the post office figured I wouldn't have any problems delivering mail with one eye," he said. "I stayed on so long because I just like the job. I have always had good people on my routes. I have always enjoyed this job."
Frazzini has had only two delivery routes during his 43 years with the post office.
He started delivering mail on Youngstown's South Side before moving to the Lockwood Boulevard route he has worked for 28 years.
Route memories
Frazzini said he remembers delivering mail on the South Side during the riots of the 1960s. He said police and National Guard units would look at him as if he were crazy, but those on his route never gave him a moment's trouble.
Frazzini said during those early days in the city he never had to bring a lunch. Someone, he said, was always grilling or cooking something and offering a snack.
Frazzini said residents along his current route continue to make sure he has had enough to drink in the summer and something to warm him up in the winter. Those cold winter days are the one thing he said he will not miss.
Frazzini said he is retiring now only because "everything is wearing out." He has had shoulder surgery, hand surgery and will have his thyroid removed.
"I figure if I am going to enjoy my retirement I'd better do it while I can," he said.
Frazzini said he will now spend his time gardening, traveling and visiting his six children and eight grandchildren. A ninth grandchild is expected soon, he said.
jgoodwin@vindy.com