Warren 'Butch' Marion, an 82-year-old who worked long shifts on his feet as a cashier at a Walmart supermarket in Cumberland, Maryland, was able to retire in early 2023 after a GoFundMe campaign for that purpose went viral in TikTok and raised over $100,000.
The viral video that prompted donations for Marion, a United States Navy veteran, was posted by user Rory McCarty in December 2022 and has more than 3 million views.
In it, Marion can be seen behind the cash register at her Walmart job as McCarthy, the owner of a bug extermination company, tells her that he will start a donation drive on her behalf.
“Imagine if someone raised that money for you?”
, the man tells the cashier, who, in disbelief, continues to scan products.
In a later video also shared on TikTok, Marion recounts that she served 10 years in the Navy, that she started working at the age of 11 and that, if she could retire, she would visit her daughters in Florida and enjoy her "last years".
For days, McCarty documented different visits to Walmart, as well as the impact that the story was having in local media.
When the campaign managed to raise $100,000, Marion told her employer that she was resigning, complying with the two-week notice requirement in the United States.
“I felt that I owed them that,” he said in an interview with NBC News, the sister network of Noticias Telemundo.
“It is an overwhelming feeling.
Someone like me, a common person, could never have imagined it
,” Marion said of the campaign.
“I appreciate it, although I can't say I deserve it.
What I like is to treat people well," he can be heard saying in another video recording the moment in which he is handed a check for more than $100,000, on his last day of work at Walmart.
Rory McCarthy and Warren Marion the day the veteran received the check with the money raised in his name on GoFundMe. Courtesy / Rory McCarthy
“It amazed me,” McCarty acknowledged, explaining what it felt like to see Marion working at her age.
The line at his register, he said, stayed full because customers knew "they would always hear something nice from her."
On the GoFundMe platform, which as of Tuesday night had received $140,875 in donations, McCarty explained that the idea came to him after watching another video of a user who helped a woman, also 82, in a similar campaign.
[On video: Time trial rescue of a man who fell on the train tracks in New York]
“I wanted to help this Navy veteran live out the rest of his years traveling to visit his children in Florida.
Getting him to rest his feet for eight hours a day and get him to do the things that he would love to do that he can't for financial reasons,” he said.
After Marion retired, McCarty has continued to post content on her TikTok account about the case.
In the most recent video, they are seen preparing for several interviews with national media outlets, including the one he recorded with NBC News.
“You never knew this would happen
,” McCarty tells Marion as a network crew helps them set up the microphones before going on the air.
"I'm happy for you friend
."