Flip and his wife Judy are adoptive parents to 4-year-old daughter Summer and 9-month-old son Derek. "These kids are a blessing to us, and every day is a new challenge - I can't wait to finish my route and get home to them," said Flip.
Summer at 4 carries on animated conversations with adults and 9-month-old Derek is already walking. "Judy and I have always loved kids," said Flip, "and when the chance came along we decided to give these kids a good home."
This isn't the first time Flip and Judy have reached out to help a child. Previously the two served as foster parents to a baby girl they raised through the age of 2.
Flip, a 25-year veteran of the Brentwood Post Office, delivers a 35-mile-long rural route in his 1971 quarter-ton old postal truck.
"I've pieced that old truck together many times - I'm on the third transmission rebuild," he said.
He considers his rural route job to be a hobby, one that allows him time to spend with his two youngest kids. Flip and Judy have their own grown children ranging from 30 to 51, two grandsons (ages 18 and 20), and five great grand children.
He retired once, after a 30-year stint running his own food and beverage supply business that catered to stores and bars.
A native of Atlanda, Indiana (35 miles north of Indianapolis), Flip settled in California after serving four years as a Navy instrument-flying instructor at Moffett Field in Mountain View. When he was discharged from Treasure Island in 1955, he decided to call California home. Prior to the Korean War, he said that he worked construction.
Flip said he and his doctor have made a deal to make sure that he sees his current crop of kids grow to adulthood. If, however, anything happens to Flip and Judy, their daughter is ready to take over - after all, she's only 51.
- Contributed by Sam Begley
Post a Comment