A fleet of Royal Mail vans led the funeral cortege from the Bishop’s Stortford home of a much-loved postman and former milkman.
Ian Humphreys lived in Beldams Lane for 34 years, and on Friday (May 29) he was escorted by family and former colleagues on his final journey to his funeral service at St Mary the Virgin Church in Hatfield Broad Oak.
His daughter-in-law, Rev Rebecca Challis, conducted the service, an Arsenal scarf draped around her robes as a tribute to Ian’s devotion to his favourite football team.
A wake at Hockerill Cricket Club followed, attended by several hundred people who celebrated Roy’s life with “a big party”, including a live band and dancing.
The popular postie started his career delivering milk for Dairy Crest and then Unigate before beginning his first postal rounds in Bishop’s Stortford as a Royal Mail employee.
He moved to cover Stansted, where he stayed for almost 30 years, working out of the delivery sub-office behind the Old Post Office on Chapel Hill.
He was the postman delivering to Stansted Airport, and was on sick leave when he passed away on May 1. He was 62.
His son Roy, 35, said his dad had successfully fought prostate cancer, but the illness took its toll on his body and, along with a number of other health conditions, he suffered a heart attack.
Ian also leaves his wife Denise, 66, stepson Anthony Challis, 43, and grandsons Harrison, 4, who is Roy’s son, and Freddie, 10, who is Anthony’s son.
“My dad was a very loved man. A lot of his customers knew him and thought a lot of him,” Roy told the Indie. “He loved his job and would always look out for his customers and help people out whenever they needed it. He was full of energy and loved everybody, and they loved him.
“He was a very caring and loving man who had a lot of time for people, and you were always smiling around him – he lifted spirits in the room.
“He was an avid Arsenal supporter, so would be very happy to know they’d won the title!”
A floral arrangement of an Arsenal shirt took pride of place in Ian’s hearse, and the service featured the Gunners’ anthem, The Angel (North London Forever), with mourners dressed in the team kit or bright shirts. The funeral was held two days before the Premier League winners’ title parade.
She said: “He worked as a postie in Stortford when they all used bikes. At Christmas one time he dressed as a reindeer and cycled up Hadham Road, antlers flapping about!”
Ian was part of the Tanners Arms tug-of-war team and did a lot for charity over the years. “He [did] trials for prostate cancer and befriended some other prostate cancer people and supported them on their journey,” said Denise.
“We’d been together 37 years and married for 34. We worked together, he got my brother and sons jobs with Royal Mail, and so many people would have known of him.
“Ian was always the life and soul and instigator of getting people to enjoy themselves. He would have liked us to have some fun so it was really good afterwards to celebrate him.”
Denise worked at the Stansted delivery office with Ian and with Roy when he was about 16.
“It was a very tight-knit office where everybody was very close and we had great times,” said Roy. “Anthony is now a regional manager for the Post Office, so it really runs in the family!”