Oldest postman in the North retires

LONG before email usurped the letter, back when pen and paper was king, the Royal Mail reigned among the most indispensable of our civic institutions.

Not many public positions came with the same weight of social responsibility as that of the postman; they were the bearers of the brightest and darkest news.

Whether it was correspondence regarding your military conscription, a wedding invitation, an eviction notice, love letter, or message from a family member who had safely found foreign shores, one thing was certain: It came in the post.

Liam O’Keefe is the oldest serving postmen in the North and for almost 45 years he was a vital cog in Omagh’s postal machine.

Originally from Convoy in Donegal, Liam started out on the frontline of Omagh’s postal service, depositing letters and delivering telegrams door-to-door, when he was 31.

Yesterday (Wednesday), he retired as a veteran of the utmost experience in the Omagh Sorting Office.

At 8.30am yesterday morning, a sea of appreciative ‘posties’ painted that sorting office a royal red as they thanked the fresh-faced 75-year-old for four decades of service.

Liam’s son, Paul, a postman of over 30 years experience himself, joked that it had become the “family trade”.

He said, “I’m over 30 years in the post, my brother Richard is at it around 25 years, and his son Kyle (Liam’s grandson), has been at it for about five years now.”

Whether they were conscious of it or not, clearly the O’Keefe men liked the look of the life which the postal service has provided for Liam, his wife Jennifer and their family.

Liam turns 75 today (Thursday), so when he retired yesterday he did so one day before reaching a landmark diamond jubilee birthday.

The consensus around the sorting office is that Liam will be irreplaceable.

Seamus Devlin, delivery office manager at Omagh, said, “Liam is a fantastic postman and a credit to our office and Royal Mail. We are very sorry that he is retiring after 45 years – he will be a loss to the office and all the customers.

He continued, “He always goes the extra mile and is so good at his job that we tried to persuade him to stay on but he is looking forward to retiring.”

But the time has come for Liam to slow down – since he moved back to Convoy a few years ago he has been rising from his bed at 2am to make work in Omagh for 3am.

Paul concluded, “Now he can spend more time at home and around Convoy GAA club, which is dear to his heart. We look forward to seeing him take life at a more leisurely pace.”

By Emmet McElhatton

e.mcelhatton@ulsterherald.com