This week I am writing of two men, a
generation apart, both of whom made a huge contribution to the local community
here in Athy. While both lived for many
years in the town, neither were natives of Athy. Bill Ryan, a native of County Tipperary, was
a teacher for many years in the secondary school of the local Christian
Brothers. Dr. John Macdougald, a native
of Dublin, came to Athy in 1974 and having practiced here as a General
Practitioner for the last 43 years, retired from his medical practice last week.
Bill Ryan died at the relatively
young age of 67 forty years ago and the anniversary of his death occurs on 5th
July. He taught me in the local
Christian Brothers School for 5 or 6 years until I finished my Leaving
Certificate in the summer of 1960. Of
all the teachers I had, apart from the legendary Sr. Brendan of my junior
school, Bill Ryan, or ‘Mr. Ryan’ as
he was always addressed, was the best.
He instilled a love of history and literature in a class of young boys
whose interest during their teenage years were understandably centred on sports
and girls. An avid Fianna Fail
supporter, whose allegiance to De Valera was never in question, Bill Ryan
brought politics and Irish social history to life for young enquiring
minds. He did so without once betraying
his responsibility as a teacher by unfair or partisan portrayal of Irish
political life or character.
Strangely, although he was a
Tipperary man, I can never recall Bill Ryan referring to his native county’s
many successes on the hurling field.
Sport apparently played little part in his life but outside of school
hours he was a dedicated member of the Social Club’s Dramatic Society. He featured in many of the plays performed in
the St. John’s Lane Social Club and in the local Town Hall during the 1940s and
the 1950s. But it was as a teacher that
I remember with fondness the man from Tipperary. I can still visualise him standing at the top
of the class talking to us about events reported in the national newspaper of
the day, with one hand clinking the loose change in his trousers pocket.
He earned the respect and gratitude
of his pupils, for he treated us as young adults who had a right to know and to
understand what was happening in the world.
His standing among the pupils of the Christian Brothers School can be
gauged by the fact that of all the teachers he did not have a nickname. He was simply ‘Mr. Ryan’. He was a first
class teacher who was highly effective in forming young minds in the pursuit of
knowledge. He died just a few years
after he retired and now that I am at an age which was denied to him I am
saddened to think that such a good man did not live to enjoy very many years of
retirement with his wife Noreen.
To Dr. John Macdougald I wish many
years of happy retirement after so many years of devoted service to his
patients in Athy and district. I use the
term ‘devoted service’ as I have
never come across a doctor, or indeed a member of any other profession, who has
given of himself or herself with such courtesy and dedication as has John
Macdougald. Many are the stories I have
heard over the years of patients visited by Dr. John following up to enquire
how an earlier diagnosed health problem was progressing. The house calls were made by a man who shared
a genuine concern for his patients and who always went that extra mile to
reassure the concerned patient. As a
general medical practitioner John Macdougald is an exceptionally kind doctor
who brought compassion, care and consideration to his practice of medicine,
qualities which are sometimes wanting in a profession which is occasionally
unfairly criticised.
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