UPS delivery driver Eddie Sereno retired last Friday after more than 50 years of delivering packages. Since 1979 he has been delivering to Greeley Hill and Coulterville. Courtesy Eddie Sereno
After 50 years of service, ‘Fast Eddie’ has delivered his final packages to Coulterville and Greeley Hill.
Brown has never been so bitter sweet.
Eddie Sereno officially retired from UPS on April 24 after more than five decades behind the wheel.
Sereno, 70, had delivered packages to northern Mariposa County since 1979.
That was the same year the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident and the start of the Iran hostage crisis.
Back then, before the internet, driving down one dirt road or another, he might be someone’s only daily connection to the outside world.
In those early days, he remembers bringing medication to a lot of Vietnam veterans who had moved to the area after the war.
For families who couldn’t travel, he became a lifeline, whether it was Christmas shopping in Modesto, or bringing back a pair of rabbit ears from Radio Shack.
Eddie was Amazon before there was such a thing.
“I was their connection down the hill,” he said.
In 1979, most deliveries were made to various post office boxes. Sereno had to memorize people’s names and directions to their home. No map apps back then.
He also had to earn people’s trust.
“Life in the hills is very different, people are protective of their property,” he said.
They trusted him to leave packages in the garage or in their cars.
“People trusted me like family,” Sereno said, with a slight break in his voice.
That personal connection made his final laps emotionally difficult. “It was very sad, I was tearing up.”
“I’ve seen a lot of kids grow up, their parents have passed away, now they have kids,” he explained.
The cycle of life playing out on a UPS route.
Sereno saw it as a privilege, a state of grace in a square brown truck, weaving between the foothills.
For Sereno the 12 to 14 hour days are gone. He’s looking forward to connecting with family and old friends.
Someone else will soon be pulling up; Sereno doesn’t know who.
“It’s based on seniority,” he said.
The new drivers in Modesto, he said, have no idea where the people on his route want their packages left.
The packages will still get there. But it won’t be the same.
“I miss them all. I feel like I abandoned them,” he said choking up.
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