Residents of Clarence Town festooned their letterboxes with streamers and balloons last week as a farewell tribute to their much loved postie, Mary Flanagan.
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Mary, who has been the local postie on and off for the past 17 years had her last day on Friday January 13 due to a change in contractors.
Helena Morris from the Post Office said Mary’s last day was “definitely a Black Friday for our town”.
“She is so well known to all in town and has been responsible for saving a house by reporting a fire and saving a gentleman's life by realising that he had not removed his mail from his mail box,” she said.
She is just an overall good natured, kind hearted country girl and will be sorely missed by the Clarence Town population and co-workers.”
- Helena Morris, Clarence Town Post Office.
Mary’s suspicions were reported to the local police and the man was found unconscious and taken to hospital.
Mrs Morris said there are several residents Mary has kept a watchful eye on during the course of her work..
“If not seen out and about it’s nothing for her to knock on their door to check all is well,” she said.
Mary was humbled by the amount of fuss made for her departure – her bike was decorated with balloons and streamers and the post office was festooned with a farewell sign.
A Facebook campaign saw residents go to great lengths to make sure Mary knew she was appreciated with letterboxes across Clarence Town decorated with balloons, streamers, posters and messages of support.
“I’ll miss the job – except for the rain,” she laughed.
“I will certainly miss the people, especially the little kids and Helena and Danny and Sue (from the post office).”
Such a much-loved local identity, at Christmas time Mary had to make several return trips to the post office with her bags of goodies received from her customers.
“The children of the pre-school and school clamour to get the mail from her and it makes their day when she just says hello,” said Mrs Morris.
“She is just an overall good natured, kind hearted country girl and will be sorely missed by the Clarence Town population and co-workers.”
Mary received a nomination in the Dungog Business Awards in 2016 and Facebook was buzzing with comments about her departure and how much she will be missed.