AS a relief postman who covered routes far and wide, Michael Leonard, better known as Mick, was perhaps one of the most recognisable people in West Cork.

People saw in him honesty and integrity, so when he died suddenly on Friday August 7th​, people nodded in understanding when they learned that he was out in his locality in Ballydehob delivering the mail, and had just helped a woman change a flat tyre.

Mick's wife, Bernie, described him as 'a happy guy.'

She said she and their two daughters, Aoife and Rachel, are going to miss him terribly.

At the age of 64, Mick was close to retirement age, but Bernie said he enjoyed it so much he was hoping to stay on for another few years. 

She said his personality made him the ideal postman because he was friendly and pleasant to everyone, but had zero interest in other's people's 'news,' or 'public house talk.'

Coming from a pub background, that of May Deane's in Drimoleague, Mick knew how to handle himself, but also how to respect people's space and privacy, and respect them as people.

Mick, who has one sister Anne, was born on October 16th 1961, the day Cork Airport opened, and studied at Farranferris and St Fachtna's de la Salle before taking on an assortment of long-held positions.

Mick got his first, brief taste of life as a postal worker shortly after leaving school. Bernie recalled how he was temporarily filling in for the local postman and had the sense to cycle to the local creamery in Castledonovan and distribute everything to everyone all at once.

In addition to helping out in the bar, especially after his father passed away at the age of 52 in 1980, Mick's early jobs included working with a local veterinary practice before he took a job driving an ice-cream lorry.

After that he worked with Coillte and took great pride in his forestry work. It was in 2018 that Mick, who lived at Coolanuller in Ballydehob, began working fulltime with An Post. 

Bernie said: 'He did lots of routes because he was providing cover. He did the Glandore and Leap routes; he did the Adrigole route; the three Drimoleague routes; he did all the town routes; the Abbey; and the Ballydehob route, so everybody knew him.'

Bernie said Mick got on great with his boss in Skibbereen, and she said he considered his young male and female colleagues at the postal depot to be 'his second family.'

A post mortem has yet to confirm that Mick died from a sudden heart attack, but Bernie said the family are taking some comfort from the fact that a Heron was seen flying over him for a time before his demise.