Thank You, Thien

Downtown Postal Carrier to Retire After More than 25 Years of Service

If you’ve lived, worked or spent any amount of time in downtown Madison over the past 25 years, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered Thien “T” Pham.

Always smiling and always ready with a cheerful hello, Pham has served Main Street, Waverly Place, Park Avenue and parts of Central Avenue for most of his tenure as a carrier with the Madison Post Office.

He will retire and hang up his mailbag in early March after 26 years with the Madison branch of the United States Postal Service to spend more time with his family, including his wife and two grown daughters.

“I was supposed to retire four years ago, but I kept working because I love my job so much,” he said recently. “I love talking to people and seeing them happy,” Pham said, of what keeps him motivated to keep working — through rain, sleet, snow, hail and heat — and mostly on foot.

And while Pham has always viewed his job as a way to deliver happiness to people on a daily basis, he also saw it as an act of service to a country that saved his life.

Rough Passage

Back in 1982, when Vietnam was at war with China, 18-year-old Pham fled his violence-torn homeland on a rickety boat. Together with more than 40 other refugees — including his sister — he travelled on rough ocean water for 40 hours, waiting desperately for a ship to stop and pick them up.

Many ships passed but didn’t stop. “We were certain we were going to die,” Pham recalled.

Finally, one ship did stop — an oil tanker from the United States.

“We saw the ship with the big American flag,” he remembers. “Everyone was clapping and happy.”

After being rescued by the tanker, Pham and his sister spent several months in refugee camps in Singapore and Indonesia. Ultimately, an older sibling who worked for an American company — who was able to escape Vietnam after the fall of Saigon — sponsored Pham and his sister for passage to the United States.

Pham arrived in Cherry Hill, NJ, at 18 years old, with no understanding of English and only the clothing on his back. He remembers carrying a dictionary through the halls of his massive high school and memorizing as much as possible.

He made honor roll and completed community college. He attended some classes at four-year universities, but was anxious to begin working and supporting himself, so he worked two full-time jobs and found little time for school.

It was through one of these jobs — working in the mailroom on the Busch campus of Rutgers — that he was encouraged to apply for a job with the USPS.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Memories and Gratitude

Some of Pham’s best memories on the job involve watching children grow up on his route, delivering college acceptance letters, and forming relationships with residents and business owners. Several people, like Joe and Marie on Main Street, offer Pham an apple each day. The owners of C&Js Deli offer him a bottle of water — no matter what the weather.

Salvatore Minardi, a salon owner and hair stylist on Park Avenue, is another business owner who has enjoyed daily visits from Pham over the past two decades. Minardi said Pham is a consummate professional who brings kindness, humanity and heart to his job.

“He brings such joy to our salon,” said Minardi. “When he comes in, everyone says “T!” It’s like Cheers.”

“I’m sure we’ll have another nice postman, but it was so special to have T bring our mail with a smile. We’re going to miss him very much.”

Madison Mayor Bob Conley said that Pham is a part of the downtown fabric and will surely be missed. “He’s always quick to say good morning and ask how you’re doing. He’s loved by every store owner in town. He’ll be a tough smile to follow in downtown Madison.”

Madison Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Karen Giambra agreed. “T illuminated the downtown with his perpetual smiles. We wish him the very best in his retirement and thank him for his unwavering dedication to our business community.”

For Pham, 26 years of service through the USPS was just another way to offer gratitude for his second chance. “When the American ship picked me up, I got another chance at life. That’s why I appreciate and love American people so much — they saved my life.”