MIDLAND, Texas — For the last three decades, Denny Park has known one thing: deliver people their mail.
"I’ve worked for the postal service 33 years," Park said. "And I've been out here at Manor Park for about almost 22 years."
And to the residents of Manor Park Retirement home, he’s the best of the best.
Not just as a mailman, but as a friend.
"He really has had an impact," Manor Park resident Barbara Stooksberry said. "He makes a special effort to get to know you as soon as you move into Manor Park. And so he knows everybody. He knows all of us. He takes care of us. And I think he really loves his job and loves people."
He also delivers something that doesn’t come in mailboxes: smiles.
"If I could put a smile on them," Park said. "And a lot of times when they see me, they smile and that makes me smile."
It means a lot to the residents that Park goes above and beyond the line of duty for, and it shows.
"He really does care, and he cares about all of us, and the people out here," Stooksberry said.
But Friday was Park's last day, as he is retiring to spend time with his family.
On his last day, this beloved mailman will not only deliver the mail to his residents, but he’ll deliver to what he now calls his family.
"It's bittersweet," Park said. "These people are family to me out here. They supported me when I was going through hard times. [...] Some of these people are longtime customers, but they're more than a customer. Some are like moms, dads to me."
That’s why the residents at Manor Park wanted Denny’s last day to be special.
And for once, deliver him a surprise.
"Well, we decided when we found out that our longtime mail carrier Denny Park was retiring," Stooksberry said. "We needed to do something special for him. He is very special to us. He has been so kind, so giving and so caring for us older people. And so, we decided we needed to do something special for him."
It was a sendoff he definitely didn’t see coming.
"I was very surprised when all these people showed up," Park said. "This was very surprising. So I'm just very humbled."
And it’s a memory he won’t ever forget.
"I mean this," Park started. "I mean, if this doesn't stand out, I don't know what will."
Denny is heading to Miami tomorrow for a much-deserved vacation.
And he looks to spend the rest of his life raising his kids; one of them being a two-year-old.
But even though Denny’s done delivering mail to his friends at Manor Park, don’t expect him to be a stranger.
"These are wonderful people," Park said. "And that's the main thing I'll be missing, mostly just the people out here. That is going to be the hardest thing for me to learn is missing this."
Just because he isn't the mailman doesn't mean he isn't welcome.
And something tells me Manor Park will once again be a main setting in Denny’s next chapter.
The only difference is he probably won’t be traveling there in his iconic mail delivery truck.