A rural letter carrier in Tolland received a national hero award Tuesday after he helped save a customer’s life.
Paul Horton has been on the job for 40 years and has roughly 570 customers on his route, but on Feb. 20, one customer stood out.
It was 7 degrees and the winds were gusting up to 40 mph when Horton was two hours into his route and heard something unusual.
"I heard what I thought were kids screaming like they do when the mailman arrives and they get excited," Horton said. "But then I heard someone scream, 'I’m going to die.'"
The screams were coming from Nancy Goldstein, who fell on her icy driveway and could not get up. She had been lying in the snow for almost 45 minutes when Horton came to her rescue.
"I thought, 'This is my last chance for anyone to find me in the snow,'" Goldstein recalled. "The snow was like 3 feet deep and I was running out of time."
Goldstein is still recovering from frostbite on her hands, but doctors say she might have died if not for Horton.
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Horton was honored with a signed letter from the Postmaster General but says the real present is having Goldstein still on his route.
"It just makes me happy being able to see her walk around the yard," Horton said. "That’s really all the reward I needed for it."
