REMEMBERING AN ISLAND STALWART: LAMB ISLAND POSTIE FOR 14 YEARS
Lamb Island postie, Karen Edwards, passed away on February 5th this year after a long battle with cancer. She worked right up to a week before her passing. When David, her husband, organised a memorial for her there was a huge turnout of locals at the Recreation Club on the 16th March to celebrate her life.
We asked David to write a few words about his lovely partner of 35 years:
“We bought a house on Lamb Island in 1999; Karen was working for Fisher and Paykel at Cleveland as a Customer Care representative for many years. When the opportunity for the mail contract came up she jumped on it as she hated working in an office.
“When she started 14 years ago, we had the little blue hatchback, but back then she would only get about 10 parcels a day.
“She used to have to take a trolley to Karragarra to deliver their mail every day on the passenger ferry, so got to know all the boat crews very well.
“Obviously with the population growth on all the islands the mail has just got bigger and bigger. Now the van goes over to Karragarra on the barge every day as there is far too much to take on a trolley.
“Karen loved doing the mail and chatting with people on her rounds, and she made some great friends over the years. Even when she went on chemo for two years she still wanted to go and do the mail if she was feeling well enough.
“We were together for 35 years and married for 25. She was a huge part of my life, and also my children's life, as they were only seven, eight and 10 when she met them, and they are now all in their 40s.”
“Friends remember Karen as having a great sense of humour, and she looked forward to a wine on a Friday evening to relax after a week of mail deliveries. She loved frogs, which made it easy to buy presents for her said one friend - filling her house with ornaments and all things froggy.
“And Lamb Island dog owners will remember her love of dogs - she had two of her own furbabies – she always had a treat in store on her rounds for dogs that came to the gate to greet her – and lots of them did!,” David said.
A memorial plaque for Karen will be placed at the Recreation Club to commemorate her years of service to Lamb Island.
Vale Karen Edwards, Rest in Peace
Comments