Thirty-nine years is a long time to do most anything. When you meet a person who has been involved with something that long, you know you’ve run into someone special. Persistence is one thing, but sticking to something and excelling at it also requires dedication, desire and professionalism, to boot.

Last Sunday a great gathering of folks — from the very young to the very old — held a rendezvous at Henderson’s Banquet Room to celebrate the retirement of Tony Moon from the United States Postal Service. Tony recently completed an astounding 39 years of service, and his mail route patrons turned out to let him know he’ll be missed.

Covington’s new postmaster, Shane Williams, served as the master of ceremonies, and introduced the crowd to Lamar Callaway, the postmaster who hired Tony way back in 1970. Callaway confided later that there weren’t too many openings back in the day, as the Vietnam War was raging, but that Moon came along at exactly the right time.

"Covington was just starting to experience significant population growth," said Callaway, "and there was always plenty of work to do. We were always busy!"

Tony’s wife of 40 years, the former Brenda House, helped meet and greet the overflow gathering, and folks settled down to listen as longtime residents and fellow mail carriers took turns telling tales involving the retiree. They ran from the poignant to the personal, from vignettes of golfing and deep-sea fishing to testimonials from elderly postal customers.

Fellow retiree and longtime mail carrier Stan Edwards, who grew up with Tony in Porterdale and played ball with him, allowing for mixed company and youngsters in attendance lamented that many of his stories couldn’t be told.

Tony’s younger sister, Gail, talked of Tony teaching her to ride a bicycle. "He put me on a boy’s 24-inch bike and gave me a push," Gail said, "and he’d run right alongside hollering encouragement. He wouldn’t let me give up just because I was a girl, always saying ’c’mon girl, you can do it.’"

"Ludie" Childers spoke of a time when vandals demolished his mail box. Before he could get around to fixing it himself, Ludie came home from work one day and found Tony Moon installing a brand new mailbox for him.

And an elderly lady who lived in a second-story apartment told of being concerned about how she would retrieve her mail after suffering a serious heart attack.

"I needn’t have worried a minute," she told the crowd, "because from that day until I recovered Tony Moon brought my mail up two flights of stairs and checked on me to be sure I was doing all right."

Folks around the room nodded agreement as stories like these were repeated in various forms. Then it was time for the honoree to say a few words.

Tony thanked everyone for turning out, thanked Mr. Callaway for giving him his first job, and told of those early days when he rode a bicycle delivering mail around the town square.

Moon laughed about a day when his postal Jeep got away, and he had to catch it on foot. And he talked of looking forward to golfing at Myrtle Beach, and at the Hickory Hills Golf Course where he’s a regular.

"I’ve had a ball," Moon said in closing. "I got to know an awful lot of people over the years, and I always enjoyed my job."

Tony and Brenda raised four children — Tammy, Dawn, Brian and Ryan — and have six grandchildren to keep them busy as they get used to retirement. Tony loves to watch them play ball, as he was quite an athlete himself, and coached for years in local recreation leagues.

It was my own good fortune to get to know Tony both from living on his mail route, and from those recreation department days. One thing I admired in Tony Moon was his honesty. He called it like he saw it; you always knew where you stood with him.

And as to professionalism, there’s just never been a better mail carrier. For the last 25 years, living on Tony’s mail route, I’ve been able to set my watch by the sound of his Jeep coming down Farmington Lane. He personified the Postal Service motto:

"Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor dark of night shall stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

Retirement? Oh, it’s a good thing! But those of us who have been spoiled for so many years will surely miss Tony Moon, the man who put the "special" in "special delivery."