Amid grief, getting back to work pays off for Valley Stream cabbie

As his wife of 33 years was dying earlier this year of ovarian cancer, Valley Stream cabbie Charles Voltus couldn’t afford to stop driving.

He cut back his schedule to every other night so he could be with his wife, Mimose, a nurse’s assistant at a nursing home. Still, he got into the driver’s seat of his taxi-yellow 2015 Toyota Prius and headed west to New York City, doing a job he had had since 1989.

Mimose died March 9 at 64, leaving behind Voltus and their two daughters, ages 34 and 26.

"The cancer was already all over her body," he said. "They couldn’t do anything."

He took a break from driving, but got back to work within a week of the funeral.

On Tuesday, his 60th birthday, Voltus was among those feted on Taxi Appreciation Day at Kennedy Airport for "exceptional service" — which in his case was 1,300 trips from June 2020 to July 2021 without any traffic or safety violations, according to Alana Calmi, a spokeswoman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the region’s airports.

Following a harrowing period that included his wife’s death and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Voltus said he was surprised at being honored.

"I was stunned. I did not know if I was doing good. I really did not know," he said.

Voltus moved to the United States in 1984 from Montrouis, Haiti, a coastal town about 37 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince. He lived in central Brooklyn for about a year before moving to Westbury, where he had friends from his hometown.

He worked for a machine shop that serviced the military contractor Grumman, and put himself through electronics school in Hempstead by driving a cab. After finishing school, he got a job repairing photocopy machines in New York City schools, but he couldn’t make ends meet.

"The pay was not good," he said, adding: "My job was not bringing enough income to survive with, so I had to keep driving."

Years later, business trailed off over the past decade with the rise of app-hail services like Uber and Lyft — and was devastated by the coronavirus pandemic for several months last year — but has since recovered somewhat.

On a good day, Voltus said, he will bring in $250 on his shift, from 2 a.m. to about 11 a.m.

"When we stopped for COVID, it was not really great," he said, "but now things started getting better with the economy getting moving."

He says he does his best to be especially polite with passengers, mindful that good service usually yields better tips.

"Smile, try to be polite," he said, "Honestly, that’s my way at getting a better tip."

Although he crisscrosses the five boroughs in his yellow cab taking passengers wherever they want to go, airport pickups are Voltus’ favorites. Passengers seem relieved to go home after a long journey, said.

"They say, ‘Home sweet home. I can’t wait to be home,’ " he said.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.