David Norman, a carrier for the Democrat, does not need the addresses for his paper routes. After forty faithful years of tossing papers he knows the names and addresses by heart.

“I don’t throw papers by address, I throw by name,” said Norman.

Norman will be retiring as a Democrat carrier and will be greatly missed by many employees and customers.

“David and his wife Mary Sue have been a big part of the Democrat’s family for decades, and we appreciate them very much,” said Publisher Chris Allen. “David’s routes have always been delivered with little or no missed deliveries. His record of service is a model we should all strive for. If all of us performed our jobs at that level, we would be better for it. I am pleased for both David and Mary Sue that they are going to move on to new challenges, but I am sad for the Democrat.”

Norman started delivering the news in 1969 when his wife was employed by the Democrat and his children wanted to have a paper route.

All of Norman’s children have had routes, and even his grandchildren have thrown papers. “The Normans have been around throwing papers for a good while,” said Norman.

Norman’s wife, Mary Sue also played a large part in the routes and very often assisted with rolling his papers on her lunch breaks.

“When the kids grew out of it we just continued it,” said Norman.

Norman currently rolls 212 papers five days of the week. “It takes about an hour to roll them and an hour to throw them,” said Norman.

Norman delivers papers on five different routes for the Democrat. He has been on one route for forty years, route 17. He has been on route 30 for approximately 30 years, route 26 for 20 years and routes 31 and 32 for 10 years.

With these kind of stats, Norman has made many good friends and has many long-time customers.

Lynn and Joann Ketchum have had Norman as their carrier for approximately 40 years. “He’s the very best,” said Joann. “We’ll miss David.”

Norman often visits with his customers when their paths cross and has become good friends with many over the years.

“We have a good visit when we get together,” said Jerry Spencer, who has been on Norman’s route for more than 39 years.

Norman’s last day at the Democrat is on Dec. 31.

“It’s been an interesting trip for us,” said Norman. “I couldn’t have done it without Mary Sue. Our policy has been to treat people like you want to be treated. I’m going to miss it, I’ve made some very good friends.”