He spent decades as their UPS driver. On his last day, Catonsville said thanks.

Bill Trentler’s last day as a UPS driver began like most others in his 30-year career. Dressed in the company’s signature brown uniform, he reported for work at 9 a.m. and drove his regular route through Catonsville.

There were about 160 stops to make before his retirement.

As he turned his truck onto Frederick Road, Trentler noticed signs bearing his name and picture outside the pharmacy, the toy store, the music shop and many others.

His longtime customers had organized an outpouring of thanks, well wishes and goodbyes.

“It was really heartwarming to know the community thinks of me this way,” Trentler said.

Some communities forge special connections with the mail carriers and delivery drivers who serve them every day, through summer heat and winter storms. Until his final route on April 24, Catonsville shared that sort of bond with a man they called “Mr. Bill.”

To Trentler, the job was more than delivering packages. He carried heavy boxes inside for elderly customers. He gifted kids model UPS trucks. He helped parents hide Christmas deliveries from their children.

Among the businesses on Frederick Road, Trentler was known for going above and beyond. Some trusted him with an extra set of keys to make deliveries even when they were closed.

“He was always willing to help and always looking out for us,” said Beth Reymann, owner of Pat’s Porch, a gift shop that hung a large banner last week celebrating Trentler’s retirement. “He’s going to be greatly missed.”

Trentler, 65, worked for 19 years as a truck driver and warehouse worker at a small local company. He joined UPS in 1995, seeking a stable career with a pension.

The Catonsville route, spanning several blocks along Edmondson Ave. and Frederick Road, as well as a number of residential streets, had a reputation for being in a neighborhood with friendly customers. It belonged to another driver for a few years after Trentler started at UPS’ Vero Road office.

But around 2001, that driver switched to another route, and Trentler took over the Catonsville deliveries. On his first day, he navigated with a paper street map taped to his sun visor.

The route was his for the next 25 years. Drivers select their routes every February, submitting bids that are awarded based on seniority. But they knew not to challenge Trentler for Catonsville.

At times, the job wore on his body. He walked around 11 miles a day and went through three pairs of boots a year. It was the relationships with his customers that made the work a joy, he said.

Driving the route day after day, he’d run into the same people and got to know them. Though he rarely lingered at any one stop, he made time for quick conversations or small gestures of kindness, like grabbing a kid’s wayward ball from the street or holding open a door for an elderly person.

“The 30 seconds I had to spend with them, you make the most of it,” Trentler said.

Many of the small businesses had his personal cell number. They could reach out directly to arrange a pickup, instead of having to schedule online.

“He went out of his way, and he did it for us as a favor,” said Jennifer Wojciechowski, a customer service representative at American Medical Equipment on Frederick Road.

Trentler also had an endearingly irreverent sense of humor, said Jamie Reese, owner of Bill’s Music. He’d yell, “Good morning, sunshine!” from across the street when he passed by the store. If he needed someone to sign for a package on his electronic touchpad, he’d joke, “Give me the finger.”

Trentler was driving his route in 2020 when he met Patty Bell, who worked at a Bloomsbury Avenue business. Her office was near the front door, so she was often the one who let him in.

They struck up a friendship that soon grew into something more. He sent her chocolate-covered strawberries the day after her birthday. She baked him cookies and left him a note. “The best UPS driver ever,” it read.

They married in June 2023. Among their guests were a few other friends Trentler had made along the route. One of his customers from Bill’s Music served as the DJ.

In recent years, UPS has slashed its Baltimore-area workforce. The company laid off 540 workers from its Vero Road distribution warehouse in June 2024, part of a broader push to automate its operations and rely less on manual labor. There are also plans to shutter a facility in East Baltimore this year.

In February, amid an effort by the company to cut 30,000 jobs nationwide, Trentler was among a handful of veteran drivers at his facility who accepted buyouts.

“Would I have stayed probably another year, year and a half? It’s possible,” Trentler said. “I can still do it, and I love it. But it was time.”

As his final day neared, an email circulated among local business owners suggesting they line Frederick Road with signs in Trentler’s honor.

Stores up and down the street participated. Better World Imaginarium, a toy and book shop, made a cutout of a brown UPS truck with Trentler’s face in the driver’s window and the words “Happy Retirement Bill.”

Outside the nearby elementary school, a digital sign read, “Thank you, Mr. Bill (UPS)! Happy Retirement!” Others wrote chalk messages in the streets.

As he drove his route one last time, Trentler and his customers shared hugs, handshakes and tears.

Reymann, the gift shop owner, gave him a card and a bag of his favorite popcorn. Employees at the pharmacy and the music store wore brown to match Trentler’s uniform and posed with him for photos. Others stopped him in the street and wished him well.

“His customers became family to him,” Patty Bell-Trentler said.

After his final delivery, Bill Trentler returned home to his wife, who was waiting with a glass of Moscato.

The couple plans to take motorcycle and RV trips in the coming months, driving as far as they please and making new friends along the way.