Long before Dave Burgeson arrives, residents gather in the expansive lobby, sitting in chairs to keep an eye on the front door for the visitor who connects them to the outside world.

Although Burgeson is just a mail carrier, he receives a greeting worthy of a dignitary, the crowd applauding and calling out his name when he steps inside the building. He repays them by pretending to look startled, then smiling and offering a theatrical bow.

The receptionist – used to this game – goes about her business and simply places a sign on her desk reading: “The mail is here.”

The 155 men and women who live at The Heights at Columbia Knoll – an independent living community at Northeast Sandy Boulevard and 82nd Avenue in Portland – came of age in another era when getting the mail meant something.

A Portland mailman’s last stop is the most rewarding (video): Tom Hallman at large