Is He the World’s Oldest Newspaper Deliveryman?

I don’t usually feature people in this blog, but this story is too good to pass up. His name is Newt Wallace, and he is still delivering weekly newspapers in Winters, California, at the age of ninety-three.

Eight carriers work for the newspaper in this town with a population of 6,600 and a circulation of 2,300. Wallace, however, has been walking his route since 1947. And his boss, the publisher of the Winters Express, won’t let him quit. That’s because the publisher is Charley Wallace, Newt’s son, who believes that his father is still alive and active because he still works at the newspaper. He may well be right.

Newt began his career in Muskogee, Oklahoma, selling newspapers on street corners in 1930 at the age of eleven. The next year, he had his own route, delivering The Muskogee Times-Democrat’s afternoon edition.

Wallace served in World War II. When he was discharged in 1946 in Long Beach, California, he learned that The Winters Express was for sale. He immediately boarded a train from Los Angeles to Davis, California. He then walked the remaining ten miles to Winters, where he bought the newspaper and the building that housed it.

Wallace ran the newspaper for the next 37 years. His son Charley then took over as publisher, but Newt remained active, writing columns and a local history page. Then he began delivering the newspaper. The work is sometimes a bit tiring for a man of his age, but when he thinks about quitting, his son reminds him that he has outlived retired friends of his own age.

Another elderly carrier, 93-year-old Ted Ingram is the official Guinness World Record holder as the world’s oldest newspaper delivery person. He delivers The Dorset Echo in the English village of Winterborne Monkton. Wallace is eight months older than Ingram, and once Wallace’s son completes the paperwork, Wallace will replace Ingram as the world’s oldest delivery boy.

There is a News Carrier Hall of Fame maintained by the Newspaper Association of America. Honorees include John Wayne, Tom Brokaw, and legendary investor Warren Buffett. I suspect that Newt Wallace will be elected to the Hall of Fame sometime in the near future. It’s an honor he earned over a very long lifetime.