End of an era as Mayo village mourns passing of long-serving postmaster

'A pillar of the community' was how Fr Michael Farragher described Michael Walsh at his funeral in St Patrick's Church, Killawalla yesterday, Tuesday, October 14.

The late Michael Walsh (85), who passed away on Saturday, October 11, was one of the best known postmasters in the region, and ran the post office in the village of Killawalla for a total of 48 years.

He took over the business when his father Edward passed away in 1967 and he was the longest serving postmaster in the country when he finally retired in 2017.

Michael, who was pre-deceased by his parents, Edward and Ellen Walsh, nephew Joseph, brothers in-law PJ and Matt, is survived by his beloved wife of Maureen and sons Michael and Padraic.

He will be sadly missed by his devoted wife, sons, adored grandchildren, Gráinne, Dylan, Aoibheann, Miles, daughters in-law Laura and Suzanne, sister Bridie, brother Edward, sisters in-law, brothers in-law, niece, nephews, cousins, past customers, neighbours and many friends.

Huge crowds attended Michael's reposing at Killawalla Community Centre on Monday evening.

Requiem Mass celebrated by Fr Michael Farragher, accompanied by Fr Michael Tracey and Fr Ger Burns, was in St Patrick's Church, Killawalla, on Tuesday and burial took place afterwards in Killawalla Cemetery.

At the Requiem Mass, his son Padraic documented the symbols of Michael's life which were brought to the altar by his grandchildren.

A family photo was brought up by Grainne, to represent the importance of all things family to Michael; Aoibheann brought up a book published by the Killawalla community to show how involved Michael was in all aspects of life in Killawalla; Dylan brought up a copy of Tuesday's copy of the Irish Independent to show how important reading and keeping up to date with the news was important to Michael and finally, Myles brought forward a Mayo GAA hat, as Michael was one of Mayo's most loyal GAA supporters and rarely missed a game, at home or away.

Michael's other son Micheál delivered a heartfelt eulogy which recalled a life well lived by his father. Michael spoke of how his father went straight into working in the family post office and grocery when he left national school, and took over the business on the passing of his father Edward in 1967.

Michael moved the business to a new neighbouring site in 1975, and as Micheál stated, his father 'hit the jackpot' when he married his wife Maureen in 1980.

Maureen worked as a local district nurse and mid-wife for many years after that but eventually retired to help raise her two sons and help Michael run the post office business.

“Dad was first and foremost a proud Killawalla man, and a proud Mayo man. He loved his work and he loved serving and talking to the customers every day behind the counter in the shop. He knew everyone that lived in every direction and the four corners of the parish.”

Micheál said one of his father's biggest passions was GAA football.

“It was a second religion to Dad. He was a proud member and volunteer of Ballintubber GAA Club

and a die-hard Mayo GAA supporter. The shop counter was the venue for pre-and-post match analysis. People would come into the shop solely to talk to Dad about football. I brought Dad to his last Mayo match in 2024 in the National Football League against Dublin, and thankfully Mayo done the business that day.” Micheál also recounted his Dad's love of horseracing, the movies and music.

Micheal said his Dad and Mam eventually retired, he and Padraic married, and his parents loved the visits of their grandkids to Killawalla during their retirement.

Michael and Maureen Walsh are pictured in 2017 flanked by their two sons Micheál (outside left) and Padraic (outside right) and postman Ollie McGing, who collected the last bag of post that left Killawalla Post Office. Pic: Neill O’Neill

Micheál recounted how his dad did suffer from illness in his later life and he went on to thank all the people who looked after him during those illnesses, especially the staff of the Mayo Hospice who were so helpful to all the Walsh family during Michael's final days.

Michael Duffy, Editor of The Mayo News, also a native of Killawalla, said the whole community and the wider west Mayo area, were very saddened to hear of Michael's passing.

“It was said more than once at Michael's funeral, that it truly was the end of an era for everyone from Killawalla. The business which Mikey, as I always knew him, and Maureen ran, was a cornerstone of the Killawalla community for the guts of a half-century, which is phenominal when you consider the amount of hours and level of dedication that a postmaster has to deliver in a typical rural Ireland village.

“In fact, the Walsh family had an incredible 127 year association with the delivery of a post office service in Killawalla.

READ MORE: Longest serving postmaster in Ireland retires

“To mark the official closure of the post office in January 2017, we here in The Mayo News had the pleasure of covering what was an historic day for Killawalla. And there was no better man than the late Neill O'Neill to cover the occasion. Neill wrote a superb feature which ran in the January 5 edition of The Mayo News, and a framed version of the article proudly hung in Killawalla Community Centre for Michael's reposal.

“I was lucky enough to be a personal friend of Mikey Walsh for most of my life. As a child, I have great memories of being dispatched by my mother to cycle the mile back the road to 'the shop' to get 'a few messages', and it was from there I formed a bond with Mikey. Mayo GAA was always a topic of conversation with us but it was later on in life that conversations turned to the newspaper industry. Michael was a typical west of Ireland 'newspaper man', he read the local and national newspapers cover to cover, and I have no doubt it was seeing the appetite that people like him had for newspapers that eventually encouraged myself to become a journalist.

“In his later life, most of my conversations with Mikey eventually turned to horseracing. We both loved analysing the form of meetings both in Ireland and England, particularly in March around the time of the Cheltenham Festival.

“I also enjoyed meeting Mikey through my work as parade ring announcer at Ballinrobe Racecourse. He loved going racing at his local racetrack and he will be missed by many of the loyal attendees at Ballinrobe.

“As Fr Michael Farragher said at the funeral on Tuesday, Mikey was a true 'pillar of the Killawalla community', but his legacy will live on through his family, and the many closes friends who were lucky enough to have met him during a life well lived. May he rest in peace.”