John E. 'Pop' Banes, 81, postal worker, inn owner

John E. "Pop" Banes, 81, of Drexel Hill, a retired postal worker who owned Pop's Barrell Inn in Upper Darby for 20 years, died of leukemia, Friday, Jan. 6, at Delaware County Memorial Hospital.

Mr. Banes delivered mail for the Postal Service in Philadelphia for 34 years, primarily in Overbrook. To support his large family, he worked one or two other jobs, including tending bar and catering, his daughter Eileen Coleman said.

In 1979, he became proprietor of Pop's Barrell Inn. He operated the bar for more than a decade after retiring from the Postal Service in 1988. He then worked in the mailroom at Dunwoody, a retirement community in Newtown Square, until he was 78.

His family teased that retirees he delivered mail to were younger than he was, but he never considered himself old, his daughter said.

Mr. Banes grew up in Southwest Philadelphia. He graduated from St. Thomas More High School in West Philadelphia in 1948. In 1982, seven years after the school closed, Mr. Banes and other graduates founded the St. Thomas More Alumni Association. Over the years, the association has awarded more than $500,000 in scholarships to students of Catholic high schools.

During the Korean War, Mr. Banes served in the Navy aboard the escort carrier Mindoro. In 1952, while on leave, he married Doris C. Hilferty. They had met at a dance at St. Alice Roman Catholic Church in Upper Darby. She was 14; he was 17.

After his discharge in 1954, he joined the Postal Service.

Mr. Banes, who played baseball in his youth and in the Navy, coached Little League teams in Southwest Philadelphia and in Delaware County after his family moved to Drexel Hill in 1965. He was a fan of "everything Notre Dame," his daughter said.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Banes is survived by daughters Kathy Duffy, Nancy Nolan, Peggy Sullivan, Chrissy Boyle, and Patty; sons Eddie and Stephen; 40 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren. A son, John, died in 1998.

A Funeral Mass will be said at noon Saturday, Jan. 14, at St. Dorothy Roman Catholic Church, 4910 Township Line Rd., Drexel Hill. Friends may call from 9 a.m. Burial will be in SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple Township.

Donations may be made to STM Alumni Association, Box 294, Drexel Hill, Pa. 19026.