City Carrier Assistant Randall Larsen was recently delivering mail in Cedar City, UT, when he saw a boy wandering along a street, clearly lost and anxious.
Larsen offered to help the lad, 9-year-old Charles Heaton, who said no one picked him up from school as expected, and he didn’t know how to contact anyone for assistance.
The Postal Service employee calmed the distressed boy until he could provide a phone number for his father, Merrill Heaton, whom Larsen immediately called.
Merrill explained that Charles is autistic and sometimes gets confused — as was the case that day, because the boy had not gone to the correct pick-up location after school.
Larsen learned that Merrill’s office was around the corner, and he made sure father and son were safely reunited.
Merrill later contacted the local Post Office to praise Larsen for watching out for Charles.
“Randall saved my son’s life,” he said. “Now Charles wants to be a mailman, just like his hero.”