Age 90 Woman Had Hard Time Getting to Mailbox, So She Created Genius Pulley Invention

You’re never too old to whip out your creative side. And when it comes to the prize for practical creativity, the award goes to someone you’d least suspect.

Betty Feret from Canton, Connecticut, is 90 years old, but this isn’t a woman who’s let age slow her down. In fact, if anything, it’s her age that’s only added to her wisdom–and her cleverness.

Feret lives in a house facing an extremely busy road. While her mind remains sharp, it’s difficult for her to get around.

Unfortunately, this made it nearly impossible for the Canton resident to retrieve her mail. The mailbox at the end of the driveway was just too far away.

Cropped Image Of Woman Removing Letter From Mailbox (Photo Credit: Audrey Saracco / EyeEm/ Getty Images)

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Feret wasn’t about to give up, though. She needed her mail, and she was going to figure out a way to get it on her own.

“She’s always been creative, inventive, and very independent,” her daughter, Susan, shared in an interview. “Anything we can do to support her and stay independent is great.”

Mark Wilcox of Connecticut Country Landscaping offered just the solution Feret needed. He’d done some yard work for her in the past, and Feret wasn’t afraid to ask him to assist her with her mail-retrieving project.

Having grown up on a farm, Feret is no stranger to hard world and classic solutions.

In an age of technology and automatic everything, this 90-year-old has proven that, sometimes, the best inventions are still the old-fashioned kind.

“She kept on asking, ‘you know? What if I use a clothesline,’” Wilcox explained. And it’s that clothesline that has become quite the conversation piece.

Connected to a pulley, Feret’s mailbox now moves freely to and from her house without much effort at all. There’s even a clip inside that holds her mail securely, just in case it shifts during delivery.

A sharp invention created by a sharp and creative woman. I’d like to have Feret as my neighbor next time I need a solution to a problem such as this one.

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“She is the queen of the mailbox!” her daughter noted. I couldn’t agree more.

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