Veteran mailman Charlie Rose has lived by one motto that his parents taught him: “If you come across a situation where you can help someone, you either try to help them or get help for them.”
In more than 25 years with the U.S. Postal Service, Rose has done more than just deliver mail. He’s notified dozens of homeowners of gas leaks, helped local police nab a fugitive and saved a man who was having a heart attack.
“I’ve done everything but help a woman deliver a baby and I really don’t want that job,” he said.
Rose has been in Athens County his whole career, but he’s covered several different routes. But after June 2015, Rose plans on hanging up the mailbag once and for all and calling it a career.
“I had a route for 13 years that was nothing but college students,” he said. “It was about 1,500 changes of address every year, which is a lot of paperwork. I wanted to get a route that was more permanent residences.”
Rose has been manning a route in the Near-East End neighborhood since 2001.
He began to attract national attention about five years ago when he detected his first gas leak on North Shannon Ave.
What followed were more gas leaks and a “battle” between Columbia Gas and Athens City Council to require gas detectors in homes.
“It’s something that happens on a nationwide daily basis,” he said. “As I say, (mailmen) are in the neighborhoods every day so we know when something is out of the ordinary.”
In 2011, council passed the carbon-monoxide detector ordinance, which required all landlords to install carbon monoxide detectors in rental homes.
Rose also went to council meetings to inform about the gas they smelled. When Columbia Gas investigated, they found the gas lines were full of holes and had to replace them all throughout the neighborhoods — totaling about $1.2 million, Athens City Council President Jim Sands said.
“Unfortunately, it is unusual for residents to come to council meetings and talk about concerns that aren’t necessarily about themselves,” Sands said. “Charlie is very solicitous to his clients and always takes time to talk to the elderly people who may not have the opportunity to talk to anyone else.”
“He really pays attention to the people who are basically business clients, not relatives.”
The Red Cross named Rose a national community hero in 2012, and he has since received letters from dozens of public officials and figures ranging from Sen. Sherrod Brown to Gov. John Kasich to first lady Michelle Obama.
Obama’s letter to Rose was in response to one he wrote to the president and first lady opposing five-day mail delivery.
“What makes these letters so nice is that they’re across party lines,” he said.
“There’s political gridlock in Washington and it’s nice that Republicans and Democrats can agree that my work is something so worthwhile.”
“… Some people get their 15 minutes of fame, but for me its been going on for five years now.”
Though some consider Rose a hero, he says he tends to shy away from that term.
“I think that term should be reserved for policemen and firemen,” he said. “All I did was take the time to care and warn somebody that I thought there was a problem.”
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@XanderZellner
