1 Week After 100th Birthday, Pay Less Cashier Hands Him Note at Checkout Counter
Routines are a necessary — if sometimes boring — aspect of human life. They keep us grounded, giving us a foundation in the otherwise swirling chaos that existence throws at us.
Even the most spontaneous person has well-worn routines, and as we age, we appreciate the familiar and comfortable more and more.
Sam Postlethwait has experienced more of life than many of us just in sheer number of years. The 100-year-old gentleman has quite the past, having taught at Purdue for 35 years.
Despite the fact that he left his teaching position over thirty years ago, that hasn’t stopped him from teaching about a subject he’s so passionate about.
Postlethwait taught botany, and loved the outdoors. He and his late wife would regularly traipse through nature, and he seems to still possess that childlike wonder and fascination with the natural world.
He doesn’t let his personal interest stop there, though — he shares it. For over a decade he’s offered nature walks to locals through a place known as the Celery Bog in Indiana.
“We ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ over maybe even a spider,” he said. “Or a spider capturing some kind of insect. All of these things you know are just so special.”
His kindness and enthusiasm have not gone unnoticed. Every Tuesday he offers expert lessons on the flora and fauna of Celery Bog, but on Mondays, he has a different routine.
Monday mornings are for shopping, and have been for nearly a decade. Each week, he makes a trip to the local Pay Less supermarket in Lafayette, Indiana. He’s become a regular, and employees know to expect him.
Eight years is a good amount of time to get to know someone, and the workers at Pay Less decided to put together a nice little surprise for the good-natured, kind-hearted man.
The week before, Postlethwait had made it to an astonishing 100 years. His jaunts in nature must have kept him strong, and he shows no sign of quitting.
When he got to the checkout on this particular Monday, he was greeted with a birthday card, signed by over 30 store employees.
But it didn’t end there — the generosity kept spreading! A fellow shopper covered his grocery bill, and another shopper helped him get his groceries out to the car and loaded up.
“I continue to be amazed at all the acts of kindness done every day by caring, generous members of our community of West Lafayette,” he later wrote to Journal and Courier. “I’m sure this has added years to my life and I am so thankful.”
At his age, he’s seen plenty of wonderful and horrible things, yet he chooses to highlight the good and the beautiful — as well as a litany of interesting insects and plants to anyone willing to stop and look.
“I speak about this all the time, now I wanted to get it written down and shared more broadly,” he related. “We live in a wonderful city populated with kind, thoughtful people.”
Postlethwait didn’t have to write up his account and share it with the local paper earlier this week, but he did it anyway. That’s just the kind of man he is. Happy birthday to you, Sam, and we hope you enjoy many more treks through the countryside!
Submit your story here, and subscribe to our best uplifting stories here.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
