A FLEET of 26 mail vans join a funeral procession for a postman dad-to-be who died of cancer.
Lee Woolley, 48, did the job for 24 years and worked to the end of his three-year health battle.
Colleagues gave up their free time to honour him by following his hearse around his old route in Ilkeston, Derbys, one final time.
Lee was due to become a dad with wife Venessa, 40, in December.
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.”
Lee’s wife Vanessa paid tribute to her late husband, saying: “He was a loving and attentive husband who would do anything for you.
“Lee had a beautiful, kind and generous nature.
“We met on August Bank Holiday Sunday 2007 and our love blossomed from there.
“We spent 17 years together and now have a baby Emily on the way, due in December.
“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.
