Milton loved Grahame Mott, and he loved Milton. The town’s postmaster of more than 30 years has been remembered as a “remarkable gentleman”.
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Born in Casino on October 26, 1937, Grahame was the fourth of six children in a family that would settle in the town of Yenda.
In 1954, a 17-year-old Grahame started work for the Post Master General as a telegram boy for the Yenda post office. After impressing his masters, he was admitted to the Strathfield postal training school in 1955 where his love for the career, which lasted 65 years, blossomed.
It was at the school he learnt the fine art of postal services, which we would later bring to the town of Milton following stints in Tocumwal, Yenda, Wallenbeen and Aria Park.
While in Tocumwal, Mr Mott met the love of his life when Kath Mansell came in to get the mail. The pair went on a date to the movies and the rest was history. They married and moved back to Yenda in 1959 where they started their own family, which would grew to include four girls.
In 1982 Grahame, along with Kath and their youngest daughter Carolyn, moved to the town of Milton as Post Master, before becoming the licencee and buying the post office building following an Australia Post restructure in 1993.
“It is safe to say that Grahame was in touch with the community. He cared deeply for what was happening and the people involved,” son-in-law Andrew Fisher said.
“He was once described to me as the unofficial mayor of Milton.
“He knew who belonged in which address, and for many he would have their mail sitting on the counter as they walked through the door.”
Even as his health was deserting him, Grahame remained behind the counter at Milton to service his community.
Mr Fisher said Grahame “loved a good joke” and was a sports fan, backing the Geelong cats, Parramatta Eels and Australian cricket team.
But most of all, he was a “gentleman with integrity, honesty and loyalty”, Mr Fisher said.
“He was caring, fun-loving and at times a merciless flirt,” he said.
The Milton Post Office building recently sold, but the running of the postal service will stay in the family with Carolyn now at the helm.
“I find myself comforting crying customers, and find comfort myself in the fact that so many people cared for him, and feel extremely blessed to have had him has my father,” she said.
“My family will be forever grateful and hold a special place in our hearts for the community of Milton.”