HAMLET — A convoy of family, friends and first responders surprised Bob Wright with a drive-by birthday party, to maintain social distancing, for his 95th birthday on Monday.
With the sun beaming on the yard Wright still works hard to maintain, he and his wife, Doris, tearfully waved as more than a dozen cars, police cruisers and emergency vehicles passed through their driveway. The participants sang happy birthday, handed out cards and treats to the couple of 73 years.
“I can’t help but cry,” Doris said. “I can’t believe all this.”
Wright, a World War II veteran and long-time Post Office worker who retired in 1985 as assistant postmaster, has become well known in the community and specifically with first responders. The Hamlet-native said he’s met every police chief since the 1930s, and he often stops by to visit with Hamlet police, fire and EMS, and the sheriff’s office to thank them for their service — and he brings along a copy of the Constitution, according to his daughter, Robbie Adcock.
Both the Hamlet Police Department and Hamlet Fire gave Wright an official t-shirt. HPD additionally presented Wright with a certificate of recognition “for the tireless, unwavering support of this agency by one of Hamlet’s greatest citizens.”
“We salute you,” the plaque read, which came with an HPD shoulder patch.
“He is honestly a pillar of Hamlet,” said Hamlet Police Chief Tommy McMasters. When McMasters was hired last year, he said Wright made a point to meet him, and McMasters gave him his personal phone number. “Everybody knows him, everybody respects him — he eats and breaths Hamlet,” the chief continued.
Fire Chief Calvin White said he has known Wright since he was assistant postmaster, and that the birthday parade was a celebration of what he’s meant to them over the years: “A person that would just come by and check on us.”
“That means a lot to us,” White said. “The guys at the station, they don’t do it for thanks but anytime they do get it they appreciate it … Stuff like that, you value a lot because you know how sincere it is.”
Asked why he was made it a point to meet first responders, Wright said, “They put their lives on the line everyday for us.”
Wright was a member of U.S. Navy Argus Unit 17 which was stationed in the South Pacific during WWII. When he returned from service, he worked as a mail clerk for the railroad and worked his way up the chain over the next 40 years.
He said that, now that he’s reached 95 years old, he wants to break 100.
“I feel great,” Wright said. “I’m just so glad to be here.”
Kevin Adcock, Wright’s grandson and another military man — “the family business,” as Adcock called it — said his grandfather is his “hero.”
“He’s never been anywhere where he didn’t know someone,” Adcock said. “It’s going to be a three or four hour trip if you go out with him.”
When HPD started their senior watch program last year, in which officers go by the homes of seniors periodically to chat and make sure that everything is going well, Wright quickly became a popular stop. Older seniors get more frequent checks, and McMasters said that Wright was so respectful that officers would stop by his house after hours on their own.
“When somebody is this age we want to make every birthday special,” McMasters said. “Each one after 70 is a gift from God.”
Wright said this birthday “tops them all.”
