By Staff
LONG HAUL Angie Pickett drives 125 miles a day, every day but Christmas, in her trusted Volkswagen. Photo by Paula Merritt/The Meridian Star
By Steve Swogetinsky/The Meridian Star
May 26, 2001
You could say Angie Pickett knows her job.
For 51 years, she has delivered The Meridian Star to subscribers in southern Lauderdale County and northern Clarke County. She's lived near Clarkdale all her life and knows her customers and sometimes their families.
Pickett got her start in February 1950 when she started delivering bundles of The Meridian Star to stores near her home.
Pickett works every day but Christmas, covering 125 miles each day in her trusted Volkswagen. At one point, she had more than 600 customers on her route.
With all of that driving, most of it on two-lane county roads, Pickett has never had a traffic accident.
Pickett was running her route the day her husband died in 1980.
Pickett can't stop and visit with every customer along the route. But sometimes they will leave her a piece of cake or candy in the delivery box especially at Christmas time.
These days, she picks up her papers about 10 a.m. Monday through Thursday. It takes about five hours to run the route.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday when The Star is delivered in the morning her son picks it up for her and runs part of the route. Then she finishes the lower end.
She loves her job and has no plans to retire.
Steve Swogetinsky is regional editor of The Meridian Star. Call him at 693-1551, ext. 3217, or e-mail him at sswogetinsky@themeridianstar.com.