Donations sought for injured city mailman

Richard Groom of Levittown, Pa., was hurt when he tripped over construction material during flood cleanup in August.

By: Linda Seida
   LAMBERTVILLE — A mailman is one of those people who are part of the fabric of the landscape.
   People tend to notice him more when he’s not there.
   That’s how it is four months after Lambertville postman Richard Groom stopped delivering mail to his route of about 400 homes. People have noticed there’s been a change, and some are wondering what happened to their mailman, said Dana Kurtbek of South Union Street.
   Mr. Groom, of Levittown, Pa., was injured Aug. 29 while delivering mail in an accident that occurred as flood-cleanup was going on in the area.
   Months afterward, with the holiday fast approaching, the single father of four children still is unable to work.
   His rehabilitation will be "long term," Postmaster John Fago said.
   Ms. Kurtbek said at least a year of rehabilitation lies ahead for Mr. Groom, and a question remains whether he will ever be able to walk a postal route again. She is collecting cash and gift cards for him as he recuperates from what she described as a "fluke accident."
   Construction materials had been laid out at a South Union Street house. Normally, the man doing the work would have been there or put the materials away if he was leaving, Ms. Kurtbek said. But that day, he was unexpectedly called to his son’s school because the child had been injured. In his worry and haste to get to his child, the man left everything laid out.
   When Mr. Groom came along, he tripped and fell on some sharp metal flashing. He was bleeding and badly injured.
   "Basically, he was bleeding out in the driveway," Ms. Kurtbek said.
   The street was quiet. Many people were at work, and no help was coming. Mr. Groom couldn’t even telephone for aid as he lay there because he did not carry a cell phone.
   "What are the odds of something like that happening?" Ms. Kurtbek said. "It’s just scary to think of that happening. It’s just a fluke."
   The postal service does not require its workers to carry cell phones, although they may carry their own phones if they want to, Mr. Fago said.
   "Fortunately, a little boy was riding by on a bike," Mr. Fago said.
   Mr. Groom called to him to go get help. The boy went to get his mother, and she phoned in the emergency.
   Mr. Groom worked at U.S. Steel in Fairless Hills, Pa., before walking a postal route for 10 years. He was a quiet presence in Lambertville.
   "He just really seemed to care about the people on his route," Ms. Kurtbek said.
   She recalled Mr. Groom sometimes asking how her daughter was doing, and even asking about her dog.
   "He was just the nicest man," she said. "He always went out of his way."
   Another postal customer, Karen Conlon, of North Union Street, gave him confections from Pierre’s Chocolates of New Hope at Christmas.
   "He used to joke that his kids would eat them," she said. "He was just a great guy; just really friendly and nice."
   Donations of cash or gift certificates may be dropped off at Ms. Kurtbek’s home at 36 S. Union St. or at the Lambertville Post Office at 10 York St.