crossing guard organization leader mailman

Matthews

The postman always says ‘hello’

In 23 years serving 75208, Darrell Matthews has gained quite a few fans. He is neighborhood famous.

The mail carrier is likeable and always friendly, his customers say.

“You can tell he loves his job,” says Gloria Dean of Winnetka Heights. “He is well-liked by everybody.”

Her friends on Haines Avenue often tease Dean for “stealing” their postman, since Matthews’s route no longer includes their house.

“That shows you how much people like him,” Dean says.

Matthews, 48, lives in Grand Prairie with his wife Jacqueline and daughter Cristal, who is a junior in high school. His stepson Malcolm is a junior at Stephen F. Austin State University, and his older daughter LaKeisha is a teacher. He grew up in Oak Cliff, graduating from Skyline High School before serving five years in the Marine Corps.

He started with the U.S. Postal Service 25 years ago, and he has spent the majority of those years pounding the North Oak Cliff pavement.

He says he likes his job, although it can be a beating in extreme weather. Matthews and his colleagues trudged through two feet of snow last February and survived months of 100-plus degree days this past summer to bring us our bills and birthday cards.

But Matthews says he appreciates his customers.

“Some of them make your day,” he says. “Especially if it’s hot and they offer you a cool drink and a place to sit down for a minute.”

Not that mail carriers have time to dally. They must sort and organize mail and stay on schedule to deliver it all before quitting time.

More than anything, Matthews says, he appreciates customers who just call out his name to say “hello.”

Mail carriers walk our neighborhoods and come to the porch every day. Because of that intimacy, they often have glimpses into the personal lives of strangers.

In all his years of delivering mail in our neighborhood, Matthews says he has never encountered an emergency, although he has contacted relatives of elderly customers upon noticing their mail piling up.

He’s friendly with many neighbors, but there’s one thing some of them don’t get: He’s not friendly with their dogs.

Many times, neighbors ask him to “meet” their dogs, pets they consider part of the family.

“I don’t want to meet your dog,” he says. “I’m not trying to be rude.”

But dogs and mail carriers go together like cats and sweaters.

“I’ve been bitten by that dog that ‘doesn’t bite,’ ” he says.

In his free time, Matthews likes to tinker in the garage. He’s a “fixit guy” who always has a project around the house. When he retires in a few years, he’d like to learn to play the guitar.