Paper route connects seniors

Published 11:16 pm Thursday, November 29, 2007

Sleeping in isn’t on the agenda for some retirees at The Vintage at Everett apartments. For Byron and Nancy Allred, 6 a.m. means up and at ‘em.

Sometimes they get up at 6 after playing cards with the gang until 1:30 that morning.

Gadabouts, wonderful gadabouts, who press senior living to the max.

First thing each morning, Nancy Allred, 64, puts on coffee pots, caffeinated and decaf, for any resident who wants to get a cup in the social room. She says goodbye to her husband, who leaves for his own volunteer mission.

Though Byron Allred, 69, is almost blind, he pushes a cart to the foyer, six days a week, and arranges more than 50 newspapers on shelves.

Sundays, he shoves around more than 65 single copies. He is 5-foot-6 and said he weighs 140 pounds.

“It’s so heavy,” Nancy Allred said. “Sometimes I wonder how he pushes all those papers.”

When stacks are arranged to his satisfaction on the cart, he starts his delivery route. By 7 a.m., residents who subscribe to newspapers have the day’s copy by their front door.

Does The Herald pay him? Nope. A paid person drops papers in the foyer on E. Marine View Drive, numbered for each apartment, then scoots along. Each resident would have to trudge down and find their own paper if it wasn’t for Allred.

Diana Smith would have had to cancel her subscription if it wasn’t for her friend.

“I live in the northeast corner,” Foley said. “I couldn’t walk up there for the paper. I know several others who say that.”

She said it’s great to open her door and find her newspaper at the same time every day. On the odd day the Allred delivery program needs a break, their friend, Jerry, takes over the route.

The Allreds, from Montana, have lived in Washington for more than a decade. He washed pots and pans at St. Patrick Hospital and Health Sciences Center in Missoula for 27 years.

His shift started at 7 a.m., so, he said, he was used to being an early riser. Raised on a farm in Utah, he milked cows at 5 a.m. before heading to school.

The couple has five children, two boys and three girls. He had a stroke in 1995, and was blind for a couple of years, but got back some sight in one eye.

Walking his newspaper route is not too strenuous, Byron Allred said. He likes to walk about eight miles a day, all inside the sprawling retirement complex. The couple rents a two-bedroom unit, cute, with a balcony, and enjoy all the amenities, from playing billiards to shopping at a small store on the grounds.

They can use a computer room, workout area and library. There is a monthly potluck and a theater room where movies are shown. Get-togethers for card games include pinochle and poker. And Friday night bingo is 25 cents per card and a whole dime per game. Prizes are gifts from the dollar store.

Games are all for fun. But if someone gets sick, they just pick up the phone and a neighbor is there with soup and a helping hand.

Groups carpool to shop, since not everyone drives. Outings to Wal-Mart are called trips to Wally World. There is an occasional luncheon at a casino, and if you need to visit a doctor, somebody will drive.

And Everett Transit goes right by the front door.

“It’s like a city within a city,” Nancy Allred said. “We’ve got everything here.”

It took Byron Allred several days to become familiar with more than 250 apartments on seven floors. The apartments are built to take advantage of Snohomish River and Cascade Mountain views.

After he delivers all the newspapers, including very heavy bundles on Sundays, the volunteer joins his wife, who sips tea in the social room. She is usually joined by several other early risers who enjoy her fresh coffee.

In the spring and summer, Byron Allred makes time to root for the Atlanta Braves baseball team on TV, his team since 1956.

Sometimes they take a nap in the afternoon. Usually they stay up until at least 11:30 p.m.

“There is so much to do here,” Nancy Allred said.

Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.