Warren Williams says newspapers are a big part of his life these days.
The 74 year old works for the Williams Lake Tribune and 100 Mile House Free Press each week, filling up his small Honda with papers and travelling to McLeese Lake, Pablo Creek, 108 Mile and Lac La Hache.
He started delivering papers to businesses on April 5, 2008 and gradually added residential routes.
His plan is to work until he’s 91, he said.
“Didn’t you know that 91 is the new retirement age?” he quipped. “I hope to keep working so I can have the kind of life I want to maintain.”
Prior to working for the Tribune, Williams was a social worker for 35 years, getting his start in Saskatchewan where he had grown up on a farm between Regina and Wilcox.
Through his social work career he also worked in B.C., mostly for First Nation tribal councils and bands, as well as with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.
It was his work with Indian and Northern Affairs that first brought him to Williams Lake in l984.
When the office closed in 1986, he left, but knew in the his heart he would always return, which he did in 1993.
“There’s something about the Cariboo,” he said. “It’s a spiritual place.”
Often people will ask him if there’s anything good to read in the papers when they see him delivering them, but he replies that he doesn’t have time to read until he gets the job done.
“I’ve always read newspapers because I like to keep up on things,” he said.
When Williams is not working he volunteers for the Canadian Diabetes Association and has been on the national board.
He also enjoys sports.
“My Yankees are about to take the field and I’m a lifelong Rough Riders fan,” he said. “I went to my first Rough Riders game with my grandfather when I was 11.”
In the 1990s his main interests were curling and theatre and he got involved singing with Quintet Plus.
Williams Lake Tribune circulation manager Sherri Jaeger said there are presently 42 carriers delivering papers for her.
“We are getting into that darker time of year and I want to remind people to leave a light on for our carriers who are delivering door to door,” Jaeger said.
Each year North America celebrates National Newspaper Week, Oct. 1-7 and Carrier Appreciation Day on Oct. 7 and we are proud to call Warren Williams a member of our team.