Former Saugus High School football coach walks his last postal route in Winthrop

Special to The Saugus Advocate

Donny Trainor always felt a personal connection to Winthrop, even as he settled, raised a family and coached high school football in Saugus. Winthrop is where both his parents were raised. So, when he took over a postal route there 39 years ago, it was sort of a homecoming.

A fixture on his route, “Donny the Mailman” walked the route for the last time at the end of January – retiring from the job that was always more than “a job” to him. Neighbors greeted him with good luck signs and balloons to celebrate his service and commitment. Donny contributed in many ways to the community, helping to run the annual Winthrop Food Drive and organizing friends and family to pitch in.

He developed a kinship with the people on his route – lending a hand to help carry in groceries, shovel out walkways or take part in snowball fights with the kids. And every year he would help Santa’s elves during the holiday season by delivering the letters from the North Pole, making sure the kids who left letters for him to deliver to Santa got a handwritten, personal reply from the man himself.

The people on his route, his friends and family in town are the reason he loved his job. He would walk roughly 30,000 steps a day by the time he finished making all his stops and chatting with friendly faces along the way.

Donny has always had a positive impact on any community he has been a part of. In his hometown of Saugus, he coached the high school football team for more than 30 years and took part in many community events and activities.

An interesting day on his route would be the day after a Saugus-Winthrop football game. There was extra incentive for Saugus to win, so he wouldn’t get heckled on his route.

In retirement, he is looking forward to spending time with his wife, children and granddaughter. He plans on doing a lot of traveling and golfing with his newly found free time. (And he’ll probably walk the course.)

If you have any nice stories about mailman Donny, we would love to hear them! Please email us at Ma*************@***il.com