For Keith Robbins, Dec. 13 started out like any other day. But as he stepped outside his home on Carbondale Road that evening around 7 to check the door of a building on his property, the unthinkable happened.
Walking down his porch steps, Robbins lost his footing and fell on the concrete sidewalk below, breaking his hip in four places and his collarbone. Knowing immediately he was not able to stand, Robbins lay flat on his back for 19 hours in at times 28-degree weather until Marlene Faulknor, his mail carrier on her daily route, came to his aid after hearing his call for help.
“I’m so fortunate to have her as my carrier,” Robbins said. “She stayed with me for 68 minutes until the ambulance arrived.”
On Thursday, Feb. 8, Faulknor, who has worked for the United States Postal Service (USPS) out of its Dalton office for 26 years, was recognized for her actions as she was presented with the Postmaster General Hero Award. The award is known for being one of the most prestigious honors available for postal employees and recognizes those who have performed heroic acts while on the job.
“We are here to say thank you to (Marlene) for what she did, and this recognition is straight from the postmaster general himself,” said USPS Georgia District Manager Avinesh Kumar, who presented Faulknor with the award at the Dalton Post Office at 100 S. Thornton Ave.
The award contained a letter from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who praised Faulknor’s efforts.
“I want to commend your selfless display of civic duty,” the letter says. “You deserve the highest level of admiration for coming to the aid of a customer who fell. I am proud of the way you handled this situation. Thank you for being the eyes and ears of your community.”
Robbins said Faulknor is always quick to help with anything her customers need.
Robbins said he thought he heard Faulknor arrive around 2:30 p.m.
“I yelled ‘Marlene’ as loud as I could and waved an orange ball cap I had on,” Robbins said.
Robbins said his house is secluded from the view of many neighbors and he thought, “This could be my last shot.”
“When Marlene showed up, I told her ‘I think I broke something,’” Robbins said. “Marlene looked down at whatever position my leg was in, just kind of nodded and said, ‘Yeah, I think something’s broke.’ Initially, I thought it was my leg but as it turned out it was my hip. I didn’t even know I had broken my collarbone, too, I guess because of the pain.”
Robbins said he asked Faulknor to call an ambulance because “I wasn’t sure I was going to survive a second night in that weather.”
Contessa Long, the officer in charge at the Dalton Post Office, said the typically shy and bashful Faulknor isn’t one for patting herself on the back.
“She never would have told us it happened had we not monitored our carrier’s stationary time and seen that she was there for an hour and eight minutes,” Long said.
Long said Faulknor had one outlook on the situation. “Marlene told me ‘They’re my customers. That’s what I’m supposed to do,’” Long recalled.
Speaking at the recognition ceremony, Faulknor said she is just one of many carriers in Dalton who put the “care” in “carrier.”
“In my 26 years of service I have helped several customers besides Mr. Robbins just as other employees here in the office and across the country have,” Faulknor said. “I was glad to be there. I’m so thankful that God put me in the position to be able to hear him and go to him in his time of need. Thank you.”
Robbins said Faulknor “always has a smile on her face and a positive attitude.”
“The U.S. Postal Service and the Dalton Post Office should feel very fortunate to have such hardworking, loyal employees,” he said.
Long said Faulknor embodies the true meaning of the word “hero.”
“He could’ve died,” she said. “He went straight into emergency surgery.”
Long said December is “right in the middle of our peak season and rush.”
“That tells you all you need to know about Marlene’s heart,” she said. “We’re very proud of her and we’re proud of all of the carriers and employees. People don’t understand that our jobs are not always easy, but our job is to serve our community first and foremost.”
That involves being thought of as a “pillar of the community,” she said.
“That’s what they do every day,” Long said. “They help the elderly get to their mailbox, things like that. Sometimes, those elderly people don’t have anybody else in the world to talk to, but they know their carrier.”
Chris Cisco, the USPS’ manager of post office operations for Group C in Georgia, said Faulknor’s humility is impressive and is something that happens “every day.”
“You have people here at the post office that are on long or difficult routes and they stay because of the people,” he said. “It’s something that the world doesn’t really realize and it’s cool to see it kind of get brought down to the base level of what we do. When new employees come in, we tell them this is a service. Yes, you get paid for it and the benefits are good, but you are really (performing) a service to the American public.”
That service includes developing positive relationships with customers, he said.
“He knew her by name,” Cisco said. “It’s good to see that we’re out in the community and people know us and we get to do things other than just deliver mail. We get to be a part of helping people out.”
Which is something Dalton carriers are familiar with, Long said.
“As carriers, we are the community,” she said. “(Faulknor) loves all of her customers and they know her. and she’s not the only one. All of our carriers care for their community. It’s not just about numbers, it’s about people.”
Robbins said he can not thank Faulknor enough for her decade of friendship.
“God sent me an angel that day and that was Marlene,” he said.