TAMPA (WFLA) – A memorial procession was held for the postal worker killed in a hit-in-run earlier this month.
Paul Falica, 69, had celebrated 40 years as a mail carrier this year.
“I would say, ‘Are you still working?’ and he would say, ‘I’m starting my second 30-year career,’ meaning he was going to stick around as long as he could,” said Tony Diaz, a retired mail carrier.
The procession began at Sulphur Springs Post Office on N. Nebraska Ave. and traveled to the intersection of E. River Cove and N. Mulberry Street, where the hit-and-run occurred.
“When you see the row of trucks going down, it just gives you goose bumps,” Diaz said.
In Sulphur Springs, Falica was known as “Paulie” or “Mr. Paul.” USPS customers told 8 On Your Side the mail carrier would go above and beyond to deliver their mail.
“It’s just so heartbreaking to know that we seen him the day of this accident, and we usually stop to give him a hug, and we didn’t that day,” said Phyllis Dukes, a Sulphur Springs resident.
Falica became a familiar face in the neighborhood. Neighbors said the 69-year-old watched their kids become adults and start their own families.
“Every morning, every day I see him, ‘hey, Mr. Paul, hey Mary how are ya,’ just so genuine,” shared Mary Dukes, a Sulphur Springs resident.
Tampa Postmaster Jackie Villemaire said the mail carrier will be missed.
“He had a sense of family between his community and his coworkers, and that meant the world to him,” she said.
A 57-year-old suspect named Christopher Prater is in jail facing charges in the fatal hit-and-run.
