‘You Never Know’: The West MI Postal Service Saves a Life

KENTWOOD, Mich. (WOOD) — A mail carrier in western Michigan has been awarded the US Postal Service’s highest award and is credited with saving a man’s life.

Wilma Daly, who worked for the Postal Service for 25 years, was awarded the Postmaster General Hero Award.

On December 22 of last year, she was on her usual walk in Kentwood on a cold winter’s day when she noticed a man on the floor in a private driveway.

“His driveway was full of ice,” Daly said.

Retired Kentwood Police Sergeant Bob Streeter said he was in a hurry to get breakfast in the icy conditions.

“I’m pushing the garbage car out, I slipped. My feet climbed out from under me, and the garbage car came out into the street, and I fell on my right shoulder and broke it,” Streeter said. “I couldn’t move, and the longer I was in there, the colder it got. My phone was under my body.”

Dali approached him to see how she could help.

“I’m like, ‘What are you doing here?'” Daly said. “

As a former officer, Streeter said he didn’t panic, but he had no idea how long he would be there. He estimated that he had been on the ground for more than 30 minutes before Daly’s arrival.

“To be honest with you, I thought I was going to freeze to death,” said Streeter.

Daly reported on a delivery driver who was also in the neighborhood.

“I tried to pick him up, and he’s—too tall,” said Daly.

Daly said she keeps an extra eye on her clients, especially the elderly.

“My dad, he died at home, and he was in Indiana. And the mailman was the one who went and got the apartment office, because he had two days’ worth of mail, and he knew my dad always got his mail every day,” Daley said.

It was Streeter who contacted the Postal Service to nominate Daly for the Postmaster General Hero award.

Daly hopes her story will inspire others.

“Find your neighbor. Find the person… that you see every day,” Dali said. “And every now and then, just glance up, and say hello. It doesn’t hurt because, you know, you never know. “