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Postal worker celebrated for 50 years of federal service
By Bruce Walton
BOARDMAN
Friends and co-workers helped to celebrate the 50 years of service Cecil Thomas has given to the postal service and the military.
Troy Seanor, Northern Ohio District manager for the U.S. Postal Service, and Youngstown Postmaster Tom Kerns presented Thomas the 50-year Federal Service Award for his decades as a letter carrier. The event took place Wednesday inside the sorting room of the Boardman branch post office where the office’s employees gathered to recognize the 74-year-old.
He was described as kind and hard-working.
“Just imagine the changes that he’s witnessed within our own organization and our country over the last 50 years,” Seanor said. “It’s a tremendous honor for me to be here with him today.”
The employees didn’t just recognize him for his service but also his friendly demeanor to both his fellow workers and the community. Sandy Cercone, 54, a letter carrier, has worked with Thomas for the last 30 years and has great respect for him.
“He is the most caring, gentle, kind man that I know, and he’s a true gentleman in every sense of the word,” Cercone said.
Through his time working, Thomas said he’s rarely seen anyone stay around for 50 years because of the long and endurance-testing work load that comes with the job.
The South High School and Youngstown State University alumnus began his federal service when he was drafted in 1966 for the Vietnam War. He started his post office career after his Army service ended in 1968. He joined a program called Project Transition, which helps veterans move back comfortably into civilian life and is still used today. He found an offer for a job in the postal service and after a testing process, he took a two-year postal job in Washington, D.C., and then went back to Youngstown where he continues to this day.
Thomas said he took the job to provide for his family, who he said have been his greatest motivation while reaching this milestone.
“There have been some things that have happened in the family, like we had to take in my father and my wife’s aunt and it was just one of those things that required my attention for them to lean on me,” he said.
Thomas said he’s enjoyed his time as a letter carrier despite all of the weather challenges, and is comfortable doing the job.
Within a year, Thomas said he plans to retire and find a new beginning in his life.
He has four children and four grandchildren and lives with his wife June in Canfield.
After they presented Thomas with his award, he thanked everyone and ended his speech with the postal service creed: Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.