Delivery driver, 73, hoists his final water bottle

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Norman Roth finished his last day of work delivering water with two strong shoulders.

Imagine slinging a 45-pound bottle of distilled water over one shoulder, and a 45-pound bottle of distilled water over the other shoulder, and marching up a flight of steps to deliver both jugs.

My body aches just thinking about it.

For a 73-year-old Arlington man, it was all in a day’s work. Roth retired last week from Get Distilled Water Service in Mukilteo.

We chatted before he left the warehouse for the last time.

Roth said he was looking forward to retiring and taking some road trips.

He was born on an Indian reservation in North Dakota. His father got caught bootlegging liquor, Roth said, and the family moved to Washington. His father worked for Weyerhaeuser and Roth graduated from Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie in 1956. He served three years in the Army.

“The Lord led me through an interesting life,” Roth said. “He is my inspiration.”

After the Army, Roth married and had four children. At Weyerhaeuser, he worked in the plywood plant, and on the green chain, and at the same time worked at a gas station in North Bend.

“I had two jobs,” he said. “I got my life pushed off and there was a little extra for my family.”

He had many more occupations. Roth managed a Chevron station in Snoqualmie and owned a Richfield station in Woodinville. He worked at Chevrolet garages, sold real estate when interest rates were 18 percent, then delivered for freight lines.

He moved to Arlington in 2006. About a year and a half ago, he hired on as a delivery driver for Get Distilled, owned by Dan Harbeck, a captain with the Mukilteo Fire Department.

“I began my business 12 years ago when I realized the hidden benefits that distilled water held when introduced into our bodies,” Harbeck said. “No one in this region was promoting this product.”

He sells several types of water.

“Outside of the Get Distilled brand, AquaVita Purified and mineral enhanced PRIMO waters, we also distribute the True Alaskan Glacier water and numerous flavors of a children’s vitamin drink made in Mukilteo called ‘Krazy Kritters,'” Harbeck said. “Like the milkman, we deliver all of our products to your doorstep.”

Roth said he took the delivery job to tackle a new adventure.

“I love meeting the people,” he said. “Every person has good in them.”

Weekday mornings, he loaded the truck in Mukilteo. His route took him around Kent, Issaquah, Seattle, Arlington, Granite Falls, Lake Stevens, Monroe, Snohomish, Sultan and Burien. A customer in Marysville, he said, needed bottled water to use with a sleep apnea mask. He delivered water to medical and dental offices.

On his last day of work, his boss bought him a cake. Being there as they parted ways was kind of sad.

“Dan was good to work for,” Roth said. “I was proud to represent his company.”

His work ethic will be hard to replace, the boss said.

Lugging the heavy bottles was his pleasure, the employee said.

“If you keep the outside going, the inside will come along,” Roth said. “The good Lord made me that way.”

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