February 13, 2007

Longtime Santa Teresa postman honored by residents upon retirement

By Ruben Chavez
Special to the Times

On Saturday, Jan. 20, a group of South San Jose residents gathered to celebrate the retirement of Joseph “Joe” Coli, 55, who, after 37 years with the U.S. Post Office, is hanging up his delivery bags.

Santa Teresa residents served by postal carrier Joseph "Joe" Coli threw a farewell celebration for their long-time mailman, who recently retired after 37 years with the postal service.

The sun-tanned, grey-bearded carrier, who sports two hoops in his left ear, was excited about being honored for his years of service and was given a gift certificate from the neighborhood.

Coli graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School in 1970 and applied for a position with the U.S. Post Office just three months later. He was immediately hired and began his career in the Palo Alto Post Office.

As a way of the breaking the ice with his new co-workers, who were all die-hard fans of Stanford University athletics, Coli showed for his second week of work wearing a Cal Berkley baseball cap, causing a small ruckus amongst his new friends.

After nine years in Palo Alto, he was reassigned to his Santa Teresa route, where he has faithfully served for the last 28 years.

Coli has enjoyed his work, but says its now time to enjoy life and take his restored burgundy 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner on the car show circuit. Joe, as he is affectionately known amongst the residents he serves, “will be tremendously missed”, says Jim Lofton, a longtime resident on Coli’s route. “I have lived on Curie Court for 30 years and have not known any other mailman except Joe. He watched all my children grow up,” Lofton said.

Coli’s South San Jose route, which serves 311 homes in the 95123 zip code, will go up for bid among other senior postal carriers. “We only hope we get someone just like Joe,” said Steve Levers, who hosted the party for Coli. Another area resident, Tom Lewis, thanked Coli for his years of devoted service and for taking the time to talk to the neighbors.

Coli’s personal relationship with those he served helped in many ways over the years, including the thwarting of almost a dozen crimes. Coli knew everyone on his route; and also knew who didn’t belong. Many times his suspicions were correct, calling the police and later hearing that he had helped nab a burglar or vandal.

Postal carrier Joseph "Joe" Coli recently retired after 37 years of service in the Santa Teresa area. Residents of the area organized a send-off party for Coli to mark his retirement.

His long career did not come without danger. Dogs bit Coli twice, including one belonging to a police officer in the early 1970s.

He has also had a lot of fun on the job. One of the residents of Coli’s route, retired 49er football player Bubba Paris, would give him a bad time about being a Raider fan. “I once ran into Bubba at a supermarket, and he yelled ‘Joe,’ which caught me off guard,” said Coli. He went on to describe how a crowd gathered when the pair began to talk, recognizing the popular Paris. After a few minutes, Paris looked at the crowd and yelled, “When I’m done, you guys can talk to Joe too!”

Coli laid the foundation for other family members to follow his footsteps. Both of Coli’s sons, his daughter-in-law and brother-in-law are all postal employees. “But that’s where it stops,” said Coli. “I want my grandchildren to attend college and do something else.”

The residents he served faithfully plan to keep in touch with Coli, who will relocate shortly after his retirement, and attend one of his cars shows in the near future.