ENFIELD -- A postal worker is being remembered after he was killed in an accident last week.
It was just this past May he celebrated working for the postal service for 40 years.
Many of his close friends, family and his fellow postal workers attended his wake to remember him as a person and his commitment to the postal service.
"Absolute shock!" said John Pirrello of Enfield.
That was the reaction of John and Lynne Pirrello, a couple who were neighbors with 59-year-old Dan Nacin for over 10 years.
Being next door to Nacin, they said he always put his two sons first and encouraged them to strive for the best. They said Nacin coached East Windsor baseball and Enfield Hockey when his sons were younger.
"He was a wonderful father, he was a good father, and he was so involved in his son’s lives. The sports they played, all the activities that they participated in, he was wonderful man," said Lynne Pirrello of Enfield.
"He encouraged his kids to go out and play sports, be good people and do something with their lives and they have," added John Pirrello of Enfield.
Nacin's life was suddenly cut short last week. A driver in a Ford pickup truck fled from police, ran a red light and hit Nacin and his mail truck head on and left it in pieces. The driver of the truck also died.
"I was half an hour behind that accident and I happened to come across the ambulances and the police cruisers and then I open up the paper the next day, there was the fact that Danny was in the mail truck. I was shocked. Very sad," added Lynne Pirrello.
Nacin was an active member of the National Association of Letter Carriers Hartford Branch for many years and the president offered his condolences in a statement and said:
“We are deeply saddened at the tragic, heartbreaking loss of Brother Nacin, a letter carrier dedicated to tirelessly serving his customers and his NALC brothers and sisters in Branch 86 and the state of Connecticut.”
The Pirrello's said the family is encouraging people to make donations to their local hospice or the Postal Employees Relief Fund, something they said Nacin would have wanted.
Nacin's funeral service will be held Thursday at 11 a.m.