'Lee was such a loved guy and we wanted to show our respects in the biggest way we could.'
A beloved postman who worked for Royal Mail for 24 years before his death was given a fitting send off as a fleet of red vans joined his funeral.
Colleagues drove 26 mail vans on Lee Woolley’s old postal route before his funeral in Bramcote, Nottinghamshire.
The 48-year-old, who was due to become a father to a baby girl this December, died of cancer on July 2.
The much-loved postie’s funeral was held last week and his pals followed his hearse around his route in Ilkeston, Derbyshire one final time.
Posties wearing their distinctive red uniforms lined up in formation outside the Bramcote Crematorium to form a guard of honour for Lee’s coffin.
Lee lost a three-year battle to cancer after initially being diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2021 before it spread to his liver.
He leaves behind his wife Venessa, 40, and their unborn baby Emma who is due in December after being conceived through IVF.
Lee’s sister Sarah Leanne Hearson, 44, said he would have been ‘gobsmacked’ at the turn out and said it was like ‘royalty’.
She said: ‘It was incredible, I haven’t seen anything like it. I arrived at my brother’s house and his colleagues were at the front of his house. It was just a line of red all up the street, I couldn’t believe it.
‘I knew there were going to be quite a few there as he was a very well liked person and well respected. Even though I was there, I watched the drone footage back and it was just as amazing.
‘Lee was a very humble person, he would’ve been gobsmacked. It did bring me some comfort. Lee was working up until a month before he died. He loved his job. For years he did the postman job, he started doing rounds again shortly before he passed.’
Vanessa recalled she met her husband on the August Bank Holiday Sunday in 2007, and spent the remaining 17 years together.
The couple were going to welcome baby girl Emily in December after conceiving through IVF.
Vanessa added: ‘Lee had an amazing amount of strength battling cancer for the last three years also supporting us on our IVF journey, he is my true hero. Lee had an incredible sense of humor and wit and loved nothing more than to laugh and make people laugh.’
Workers gave up any overtime pay and worked their free time to attend the funeral.
Ilkeston delivery officer manager Lisa Pynegar, who arranged the special tribute, said: ‘Lee was such a loved guy and we wanted to show our respects in the biggest way we could.’
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