It was the spring of 2014, and it was graduation day at Notre Dame High School. The guest speaker that day was my near lifelong friend Kirk Cistaro who just so happened to be a NDHS Alum from the Class of 1985.
Among the members of the graduating class was his son Cal. I was not in attendance, but thanks to social media I found out Kirk Cistaro’s graduation speech was a hit.
That all came flooding back to me when I briefly talked with Cal this week to ask him what the topic of his dad’s speech to that class that day was. He laughed, saying he had probably heard his dad give the speech at a random Tuesday family dinner, about being “just a mailman.”
Kirk Cistaro may be classified on his W2 as “just a mailman,” but in his professional life, in his personal life, and long before he created a family and even when he had a full head of hair, there was no one tag you could pin on him.
I mention all this today in the realm of social media because if you have any presence there locally, and probably beyond, you know that after 31 years Kirk retired Tuesday, April 30. He stepped down from his job serving the City of Buckhannon and the United States Postal Service.
As for a Bridgeport connection, well, there really is not one other than he certainly knows a whole lot of folks here, throughout Harrison County, Upshur County and well beyond. For purposes of this blog, the reason is bigger.
For those who know Kirk, they know he is humble, kind, quick witted to a fault, and he has always had a larger than life personality.
That revelation is nothing new. It is who he is. It always has been that way since I got to know him before we ever hit double digits in age and then when he became one of my closest friends in my late teens and has been so ever since.
Yet, the magnitude of how beloved he was in Upshur County never really sunk in. An old North View friend who is on Kirk’s mail route, Bob Ehrlich, occasionally would sing his praises of Kirk to me when we messaged about something on Facebook. Bob’s a great guy, but he doesn’t hand out praise unless it was earned, so it was nice hearing Bob say so many kind things about Kirk when our old neighborhood got brought up.
I really started thinking about Kirk’s impact back in February when I headed to the Bicentennial Inn in Buckhannon for a wine tasting event and then visited the 88 Lounge that is in the lobby afterwards. Former Clarksburg resident Traci Davisson Ellis was there and during the conversation she brought up that Kirk was retiring. Although he and I had discussed it, I can honestly say my only thoughts on it were being happy for him, a bit envious, and thrilled he would be able to do whatever he wanted.
Traci, however, let me know that his departure was a rather big deal in Buckhannon. I may have this wrong, but she said something along the lines that people would be “devastated not seeing Kirk.” I did not dismiss it, and totally believed it, but to the level that such was the case I did not fathom. Shame on me.
That came to fruition when the publication, MyBuckhannon.com, did an extremely beautifully written piece April 23 on Kirk stepping down. It not only talked about Kirk’s history with his job and the city, but they spoke to those he served on his primary routes in Buckhannon. The comments were touching and heartfelt.
As is often the case, the article was shared on various social media platforms, in particular Facebook. I saw dozens of them and read the comments. Flattering, to say the least, would be an understatement.
For three-plus decades, Kirk Cistaro had been a constant in the Buckhannon community. He watched entire families grow. He checked in on people who may have needed checked on. He often, particularly for some of the elderly folks on his route, was the one point of conversation, the one constant, they could count on several times a week. Kirk has always been fantastic at conversation, which he got honestly from his mother Judy.
My friend Bob told me one time, and I may have this wrong (maybe even have it wrong that it was Bob), about Kirk helping him with a situation with his dogs. I believe one got loose and he asked Kirk, while working, to stay with one of his other dogs until he remedied the situation. The mailman obliged.
How many times has something of that nature happened? How many times did Kirk serve as a kind face to a family after the loss of a loved one? How many times did he make sure someone was okay? How many times did he just smile and say hello in a heartfelt manner for a person who may have needed a dose of kindness?
If you know Kirk, you know it was an everyday occurrence. And if you know Kirk, his goodness runs so deep that I can assure you those he served on his mail route, as well as his co-workers, did their best to return that goodness to him in spades. I cannot imagine that as Kirk celebrated his customers’ accomplishments and provided an ear and shoulder in times of tragedy that it was not returned to him. Honorable deeds, even the simplest of ones that accumulate over 30 years, have a way of, pardon the pun, being returned to the sender.
I don’t think anyone who knows Kirk Cistaro is surprised at this. I think because it was out of our immediate jurisdiction it escaped some in his local social circle just how deep it ran.
Think about this: On his last day, he was presented with the Key to the City of Buckhannon by Mayor Robbie Skinner. That happened because those, according to MyBuckhannon, along his routes that “cover the left side of Route 20 from McDonald’s to the courthouse” know he cannot be replaced. Rather good for “just a mailman.”
Now, he gets to spend more time with his family, his friends, and I imagine he may visit friends back in Upshur County from time to time. Oh, and did I mention his family is a good one? Correction, they are aces.
Kirk and his wife Theresa are the royal leaders of a wonderful family. I try to tell myself they brought their children into this world to not only be good people, but to also serve as entertainment to yours truly. There is not a bad one in the entire bunch and any branch off the bunch.
None of what has happened in Kirk’s personal or professional life is a result of coincidence. All the good poured on him, all the blessings received by his family, is a result of what Kirk decided to do every single day as a husband, father, son, friend, and worker.
He decided to be kind. When he could have chosen to be negative, to throw his hands up at the worst life had to offer, he always chose to be kind.
That is the message of this blog. Be kind, and do the right thing, and the world will find a way to repay you.
That is why being “just a mailman” is so much bigger than it sounds. I know for certain he made that small corner of the world in Buckhannon better for being part of it. Because of that, this mailman changed the world.
I am certain of that. After all, he’s changed the world and lives of everyone he knows. Just a mailman? Sure, but he is so much more than that. And arguably the best in each category he falls under.
Enjoy your retirement, Kirk. You have certainly earned it.
Editor's Note: All photos courtesy of Clare Cistaro Zummo. Top two photos show Kirk Cistaro preparing for his last day of work and with his family. The next three photos are group photos of Cistaro with his family, while he's shown with his beautiful wife Theresa in the middle of those three. In the sixth image, he is shown with the blog's author on the day, not surprisingly, he was inducted in the Notre Dame High School Hall of Fame. Bottom photo shows Cistaro with Buckhannon Mayor Robbie Skinner getting the key to the city (Photo from the Buckhannon, W.V. Community Facebook page and post by Pam Vezinat Manney.
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