SPIRO (KFSM)—Betty Carroll stops by 1,091 mailboxes on her daily route, but Monday (May 2) was different than usual.
“I noticed at Ms. Lockaby's house that I stuck her newspaper in her box, and she hadn't taken her newspapers out for the last few days” Carroll said. "I knew that was strange for her because she gets them every day."
She also noticed Dorothy Lockaby’s car windows had been rolled down for days and the grass in her yard was overgrown. Carroll just felt like something wasn’t right, so she knocked on the door.
“The TV was really loud, and I thought that I heard moaning, but I wasn't for sure, so I knocked again. I was like, ‘It’s the mailman,’ and then I heard what sounded like ‘Get me help right away,' or ‘Go the heck away.’ I wasn't for sure, so I went ahead and called the local police to do a welfare check on her,” Carroll said.
It turns out Lockaby had fallen and she had been laying on the floor for days.
“She`s just a friendly, sweet person to my opinion,” Joyce Harris said. “She lives alone. She doesn`t have any kids here to check on her, and sometimes I`ll take her something to eat and just come out in the yard and talk to her a little bit.”
Harris lives next door and has known Lockaby for about 40 years.
“I think we have a very thoughtful mail carrier,” she said. “I’m so glad.”
“I kind of had my doubts about the job because actually I have a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and have been trying to get on with the Department of Human Services, and thinking everyday this can't be my calling,” Carroll said.
But now Carroll has gained a new perspective on her job.
“Maybe this is where I need to be for now for this moment” she said. "I really believe God puts us where he wants us at the time."
Carroll and Harris both went to visit Lockaby in the hospital on Tuesday (May 3). We’re told she’s expected to be OK.