Reunion for jolly walker, young letter writer in nick of time
She wrote numerous letters to him, which Darrell kept, along with all the Herald's news articles about him.
Before leaving to live in Canada, jolly walker Darrell Day had wanted to connect with a young girl who had handed him letters during his ‘walking’ days.
He appealed to the South Coast Herald to help find her and fortunately this did not prove to be too difficult at all, with Suid-Natal High pupil Nadia Terry responding, and they were able to meet and greet before departure day.
When Nadia was younger, she moved towns and started at a new school.
Seeing a happy Darrell smiling and waving on the side of the road proved to be a highlight of her day.
“He always made us smile as we drove past on the way to school,” she said.
For Darrell, it was always about bringing some cheer to the folk on the coast.
Nadia was thrilled to be able to meet Darrell, who became something of a celebrity, due to his his jovial greetings to motorists as they whizzed by.
“Funnily enough, just a few weeks ago, I was wondering what had happened to him,” said Nadia.
She wrote numerous letters to him, which Darrell kept, along with all the Herald’s news articles about him.
“I would ask the bus driver to slow down so I could give Darrell the letters while he was walking on the road,” explained Nadia.
“When he left to visit his daughter in Canada I was sad and we missed him,” she added.
The meeting almost didn’t happen.
Nadia’s mother, Chrissie said she was standing in the queue at the store when ‘something told her to buy the newspaper to take home’.
“I believe this reunion had God’s hand in it,” said Chrissie.
Nadia said she hardly ever reads the newspaper, but was sitting on the couch at home and ‘something told her to pick the paper up’.
And, just as well!
“When I saw the article, I just started shouting for my mother… I was so surprised,” explained Nadia.
Darrell was thrilled they had been able to connect and wished Nadia and her family well.
He had wanted to find Nadia and give her a gift before flying to Canada to live with his daughter Nicky. “It was a beautiful ending,” he said.
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