At right: Tom Moran brings letters and a smile to a Hollybrook Road resident. Photo by Doug Hickerson. Below: A sample cluster of cards and envelopes created by Tom Moran. Photo by Dianne Hickerson.

Caring courier brings
the joy year round

“Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” --Inscription on the main Post Office in New York City.

“One day last winter I looked out – we had those huge, huge drifts – and here is the mailman crawling over the snow drifts to deliver the mail,” said Robert Berry who lives on Hollybrook Road. “I thought to myself, God, this is dedication; nowhere else would you see it. He did not miss a day, not a day. This guy is unbelievable, always upbeat, always has a nice word and a smile.” Berry wrote this praise to the Postmaster General in Washington.

The dedicated mailman is letter carrier Tom Moran, who has served the Sweden Village subdivision and beyond for about 13 years. He doesn’t defy just the weather on his appointed rounds. When road construction blocked Keystone Court for several days, Tom timed his deliveries during the construction workers’ lunch break. He parked his vehicle and walked the length of Keystone Court and back delivering the mail. Official policy would have required customers to pick up their undeliverable mail at the post office.

One resident tells about forgetting to put a stamp on an electric bill that was close to overdue. Tom put a stamp on it and left a small envelope to be reimbursed. He wrote, “I thought you wouldn’t want this delayed.” He does this for all his customers. Normally such a letter goes to the post office, then comes back several days later noting postage due.

All of Tom’s customers have high praise for an extraordinary human being who is sensitive and responsive to the special circumstances in the families he serves. “He delivered the mail right to my door for three weeks after I had heart surgery,” said Jim Kenney of Keystone Court. “I didn’t ask him to do it. He looks after the people he works for. He’s a great guy, always friendly, always a smile.”

Tom looks after people by being aware of routine life in the neighborhood and at the homes along his route. In early November, Maury and Liz Kleiman were suddenly gone from their Hollybrook Road home without giving Tom the usual notice. Tom also noticed the number of cards coming to the Kleiman home. He then learned from a neighbor that Kleiman’s grandson and son-in-law had been killed in a tragic camping accident in Arizona.

On the day he heard the news, Tom wrote a sympathy card to the Kleimans, eloguently expressing his deep empathy and support. A typical sentence: “I extend my sincere and deepest sympathy on your tremendous and extremely painful loss.” Tom also enclosed a memorial gift to Lifetime Assistance, Inc., “because of your exceptional dedication (to that organization),” Tom declared.

Tom is equally adept in expressing compassion or congratulations to his customers. He will create a customized card for any occasion, such as milestones or special achievements which he usually discovers in newspapers. Tom’s cards typically have impeccably penned prose or poetry. He often researches the field in which his subject was recognized, such as sports or art. He pastes appropriate clippings – photos, headlines, and graphics – from magazines, newspapers, and web sites. Envelopes are hand-decorated as well. The words and art create a collage that elevates the person into a kind of “Hall of Fame.”

As Sweden Villagers have begun to share their Tom Moran stories, the experience has taken on a science-fiction movie aura. It’s as though they’ve had an encounter with a friendly space alien but didn’t think anyone else would believe their story about Tom’s feats and fantastic cards. There has been much joy and surprise as neighbors have learned that they’re “not alone” in receiving a special message.

For example, Melanie and Dan Hogan have received cards for about eight years, some to their son Devin, following his participation in football and volleyball. Joan and Richard Fenton report that their son, Mark, a race walker, received Tom’s humorous and encouraging cards through high school, college and beyond.

Sharon and Carl Wheat have received Tom’s cards for about 15 years, starting at their home on Holley Street in the Village of Brockport. Tom followed Carl Wheat’s career in politics, first on the Village Board, then the Town of Sweden Board after the Wheats moved to Tudor Road. “He’s one of our favorite people,” Sharon Wheat said. “Whenever something happens in our family, here comes a card.” That includes congratulations to their son, David, in his career moves as a manager in professional sports. Daughter Mary Karen, who excelled in softball, received not just cards but a Wheaties cereal box with Tom’s own artwork added and the big word changed to “Wheat.” We used the box as a table centerpiece at her high school graduation party.

“He is one of the most creative people I have met,” said well known artist Helen Smagorinsky, who has received Tom’s cards about her artwork and her Panettone bread that she gives Tom annually. “He is a polite, charming, accommodating, kind, gentle person, interested in people,” Smagorinsky said. “He remembers things about you.” In her painting of the Village of Brockport, which she donated to the Seymour Library as a fund-raiser, she included a mail truck. “I know the village isn’t my mailman’s route,” Smagorinsky said. “But, I usually try to put mailmen in my paintings as my tribute to Tom.”

Tom Moran lives in Batavia with his wife, Lisa, their son, Michael, who is ten, and an older stepson, Dan. Tom is a native of Batavia and attended SUNY College at Brockport. He has been in the postal service for almost 23 years. Donna Chichester, Postmaster at Brockport Post Office and Tom Schmidt, her predecessor from 1981 until December 1999, both affirm Tom’s dedication to the postal service and to his customers.

His daily route has him delivering about 2,000 letters and magazines to 500 mailboxes and about 45 parcels to front doors. “Part of the reason why I like to write cards is that I don’t get a chance to talk with people,” Tom said, adding that he is a shy person and expresses himself better in writing. All the profuse prose, poetry and crafting is done only on Sunday “because my brain is dead after a workday,” Tom said. Everyone asks Tom about how he creates the meticulous cards with appropriate historic details and clippings.

His answer – he does research at the library, once in a while. But, Tom mostly relies on rummaging through his own “archives” – a tub full of magazines and newspapers.

When asked why he doesn’t take the easy way and do only his “appointed rounds,” Tom replied, “That would be boring. It’s so much more interesting to know the people you deliver mail to.” And, Tom is glad for his customers to know him. “By now, after 13 years on this route, I hope people know me as ‘Tom,’ not just ‘the postman.’ ”