25-year news deliveryman man starts retirement today
HE'S SLEEPING IN
by Ruth Osborn
rutho_news@lwsb.com
Today is the first day in 25 years that LW residents in Mutuals 3-7 haven’t gotten their LA Times, Press-Telegrams and OC Registers from the ever-cheerful Michael Chubbs.
Today is the first day of his retirement.
It’s also the first day in a quarter century that Chubbs has not hit the alarm button at 3 a.m., rolled out of bed and headed to a warehouse where he loads hundreds of newspapers into a truck and drives them to LW.
Today is the first in two-andone- half decades that Chubbs has not started his day wending his cart through LW, delivering each and every newspaper with kid gloves.
He knows who likes the paper early and who likes it later. So he makes two rounds of his daily route. He knows who wants it on the patio and who wants it at the front door. He’s the one who delivers all the missed papers to LW doors every single day.
Over the years, he has been a life saver. He rescued a resident who had fallen and spent the night on the floor.
“It’s quiet at that time of the morning,” he said. “And I could hear her crying for help.” He called Security, and the woman was taken to the hospital with a broken hip. She told him she knew he’d be by at a certain time, so that’s when she started hollaring.
He’s returned lost wanderers to their homes. He’s chased coyotes away from pets and he’s helped a person or three who fell out of bed back to safety. He’s returned keys left in front doors and shut doors that were left wide open.
He did that seven days a week for 25 years. Until four years ago, Chubbs went to his job with the U.S. Postal Service after delivering all those papers in LW, often getting home after 6 p.m.
He even logged a 16-year stretch of perfect attendance— never missing a day of delivering. His daughter Monique, one of five children, felt compelled to schedule an evening wedding to make sure her father would be able to attend.
Needless to say, the former postal worker has a lot of friends in Leisure World, who are so sorry to say goodbye. He’s an early morning fixture, and he leaves a big hole.
He said he has enjoyed working with residents over the years. Many of them have his personal cell number so they can call directly for help.
“I just love Leisure World,” he said. “I especially love to see the people married for 40, 50 and 60 years walking down the street holding hands.”
It reminds him of the power of love, that the positive will always outshine the negative.
With his easy smile and affable manner, Chubbs delivered a lot more than newspapers in his time here. He delivered friendly waves, big smiles, a helping hand, a way home and a can-do spirit.
So he’s the perfect guy for his next chapter. He will be spending more time at the helm of his family-owned business, Agape Home Care, which specializes in providing high-level, in-home care services. Several clients are LW residents.
“I’m retiring from 3 a.m. mornings, not from work,” he said.
And that’s a good thing because he will still be in and out of LW, spreading his particular brand of joie de vivre.
