Des Plaines community honors beloved letter carrier retiring after nearly 40 years

Community throws retirement party for letter carrier

He delivered the mail in the same Des Plaines community for twenty years making lifelong friendships every step of the way. Today those on his route honored him as his career at the post office comes to an end.

DES PLAINES, Ill. - In Des Plaines, neither rain nor sleet nor snow could stop this tight-knit community from taking time out from their busy lives to honor their longtime letter carrier, Gary Connor, as he retires after spending nearly 40 years at the Postal Service. 

What we know:

"I tried to make it 40 years, but I made it to 39.5 which is good enough," he told Fox 32. 

Connor had hopes of making it to 40 years but suffered a stroke that forced him off of his route and into retirement, but he walks away from the job knowing he earned so much more than a paycheck. 

"Most of it is all the love I got from these people, all the prayers that they gave me when I was sick," he adds. 

Overwhelmed by the show of love and support, Connor said those who threw him his impromptu retirement party became his family and that he saw many of them more often than his own flesh and blood family members. 

Now that he’s joined the ranks of letter carriers who spent a career walking a mail route, he leaves with a host of positive memories, and a few dramatic encounters with community members of the four-legged variety.

As for one-on-ones with angry dogs, Conner smiles and says, "I rarely go bit."