Cornish
The person who sneezed, postal service worker Cara Decato, hasn’t greeted Grace yet, but people who interact with such regularity needn’t bother exchanging daily pleasantries. The conversation naturally resumes from the day before, as if Grace never left.
“It’s your last Wednesday,” Decato says while accepting box packages from Grace, a swap they’ve performed countless times over the years.
“She’s been saying that all week,” Grace tells Jessica Bryant, another postal worker. “Tomorrow it will be ‘It’s your last Thursday.’ ”
That’s because Grace, 56, retired on Friday from the UPS delivery route he’d driven since 1984. For 34 years, Grace had been “the man in the big brown truck” around Plainfield and Cornish, his friendly smile and knowledge of community activities as reliable as his being on time.
“He’s our guy. He’s an institution,” said Rob Taylor, a Meriden resident who receives deliveries from Grace at the small maple sugarhouse he runs on Main Street. “My son calls him ‘Ray Brown Truck’ and he’s watched him grow up over the years. He’s absolutely awesome at what he does. Just super efficient and a great guy to interact with every day.”
Grace feels the same about the people he delivers to. He’s a long-time Cornish resident who was raised on Methodist Hill Road in Plainfield, making those he greeted each day more than people who merely accepted his packages. They’re also his neighbors and friends, people he relies on as much as they rely on him, not only for deliveries but for community.
“I love the customers, I love the people,” Grace said during a typically bumpy, clunky ride in the big brown truck. “I’m at a point right now where it’s just time to move on.”
Grace landed a job with UPS soon after graduating from Lebanon High School in 1980. He was 18 and wasn’t allowed to drive a delivery truck until he was 21, so he initially worked on the floor at what was then a UPS shipment facility on the Miracle Mile in Lebanon. That facility closed in 1991, and UPS has operated from a building on Olcott Road in Wilder ever since.
Not long after he began driving the Plainfield and Cornish route, Grace and his wife, Teri, purchased a home on Town House Road in Cornish and raised three daughters, Angela, Jenn and Kelley.
“I’m very proud of my dad for everything he’s done for people over the years,” said Angela Grace, 37. “He’s very well-respected and well-liked. He smiles nonstop and people really look forward to him stopping by because of his personality. Everyone I know is saying it’s going to be sad not seeing him every day.”
Grace surmises he’s driven the roads of Plainfield and Cornish more than anyone else, a safe bet considering he’s been logging between 120 and 130 miles daily for so long. Many of the roads are rural and scenic — he spots wild turkey and deer nearly every day, depending on the season — but they also can be downright treacherous during wintertime and mud season.
Grace got stuck in the mud and snow plenty over the years, sometimes needing to wait for a tow truck, yet he always made sure his packages got to customers. Sometimes he had to improvise, trudging down long, unplowed driveways during a snowstorm, for example. In other instances, alternate meeting places have been arranged, such as packages for Decato going to the family dairy farm near the bottom of hilly Burr Road, instead of her home near the top of it.
That’s the benefit when long-time clientele also are neighbors and friends.
“He always finds a way to get it to us,” said Decato, 37, who says she’s known Grace since she was around 11 years old. “It’s the same thing when he comes into the post office. If there’s a missing package, he’s back out in the truck, digging it out, because he knows it’s in there somewhere. If he ever leaves without dropping one off, he’ll be back 20 minutes later because it turned up.”
Grace’s record with UPS is impeccable. While he had a few minor collisions during his first 10 years driving the truck — always while backing up, Grace noted — he’s never been involved in an accident UPS deemed “avoidable” in its evaluation.
“To have 34 years of safe driving, 34 years without contributing to an accident, that’s quite an accomplishment,” said Greg Garone, Grace’s off-and-on supervisor for the last six years. “Anyone who knows some of the driveways in Plainfield and Cornish knows that’s quite a feat. He’s had to navigate through a lot of adverse conditions, and he’s always done it with a smile.”
The route has allowed Grace to remain connected to places like Plainfield Elementary School, where he was a student in the 1970s. Principal secretary Lisa Gradijan and secretary Lisa Elder looked forward to the daily rendezvous with Grace, who often left them with ample conversation fodder.
“He shares something with us every time he comes in, whether it’s something about local kids, college, whatever it may be,” Gradijan said.
Some of the more significant changes to his trade over the years include conversion from pen-and-paper tracking to Delivery Information Acquisition Devices, which record transactions and signatures digitally, as well as the boom in deliveries from the explosion in online shopping.
During Wednesday’s stop at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, at least two-thirds of the items on the pallet of more than 30 parcels appeared to originate from online retail giant Amazon.
“Things got a lot busier when those orders started picking up,” Grace said. “That might have been the biggest change I’ve seen.”
The Graces endured trauma 4½ years ago, when they were struck by a motorist while crossing a street while on vacation in Sarasota, Fla. Teri Grace fell into a monthlong coma — she has recuperated very well — while Ray needed two reconstructive ankle surgeries in the aftermath. Ray Grace’s mobility remains less than ideal, and he simply can’t imagine long trips up and down driveways for another holiday season.
“That’s why I chose October to retire,” said Grace, who plans to deliver for a Meriden-based smokehouse part time in retirement. “They can be very long days at Christmastime. You don’t get done until 9 or 10 o’clock at night, after everything is delivered. You can’t bring anything back (to the warehouse) until it’s at least been attempted.”
Everyone misses a friendly face, yet many along Grace’s route seemed genuinely saddened by his pending departure, as if they’ll be adjusting their own routines because it will no longer involve their man in the brown truck.
Kyle Morin, who’s been a clerk at the Meriden Post Office for two years, has difficulty envisioning daily UPS deliveries from someone else. “It’s going to be different without him. It’s unfortunate, because he’s someone you get excited to see every day,” Morin said.
Jerry Bettis, a Plainfield Post Office clerk, said relating with Grace has been a highlight of his workday. “You can’t open the door and not smile back at him, because he’s so upbeat,” Bettis said. “Sometimes things can seem pretty nuts in this line of work, but when you can stop and smile, it helps. When someone like Ray comes in and he’s in a good mood, it puts you in a good mood. You think, ‘OK, stuff’s not as nuts as I thought.’ ”
A retirement party for Grace is being held from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday at the Plainfield Fire Department. Beverages and a light food buffet will be served.
Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.