Recent deaths of Athy folks

The holiday period saw so many of our local community members pass to the other side. The sadness of their passing was heightened when contrasted with the happiness and good will which marked the holiday season. The slow funeral processions to the local cemeteries took on an even more sombre appearance than usual as the coffined remains passed by shops festooned with Christmas decorations. It was a time for reflection and a time to honour the memory of loved ones, colleagues, friends, neighbours and acquaintances whose lives on this earth had come to an end. Adam Coyle was a young man whose life was cut short of the biblical three score and ten. The turn out for his funeral was perhaps one of the largest seen in St. Michael’s Church of Ireland for some years past. May Neill, formerly May Breen of Offaly Street, lived a long-cherished life, dying just a few short years after her older sister Nan O’Rourke. Both were part of the wonderful Offaly Street neighbourhood community which provided the background to my youthful days in the street once known as Preston’s Gate. Martin Phillips passed away the week before Christmas, having fought an unsuccessful battle against a debilitating illness. I last met Martin at the official opening of the Outer Relief Road. As always Martin, despite knowing that the end was near, spoke with good cheer, exchanging laughter and good-humoured comments with myself and others. His was a courage which spoke volumes for the good life he led with an involvement in the Parish Church, the local G.A.A. Club, Irish traditional music and many other community based activities. The eulogy delivered from the church lectern by his son Martin was particularly moving and exceptional in its content and composition. Martin’s passing was soon followed by the deaths of Frank Breen and John Bracken. I first got to know Frank many years ago at a time when he worked in Peerless Rugs. He came to Athy from the northern part of Ireland and his good humour endeared him to everyone with whom he came in contact. John Bracken, whose brother Richard has done so much to revive the pipe band tradition in south Kildare, was a quiet man whose life was marked by courtesy and kindness. Just a week before Christmas day I was shocked to learn of the sudden death of Paddy Hayden, formerly of St. Patrick’s Avenue. I hadn’t met Paddy following his retirement from Tegral until approximately six months ago when on meeting in Duke Street Paddy told me of his interest in finding out why Éamon de Valera arrived in Athy to visit Ushers who then lived in Aughaboura. He said he witnessed de Valera making that visit on two occasions in the 1960s when Paddy was a young fellow living in nearby St. Patrick’s Avenue. I last met Paddy two days before he died when we discussed again the unexplained de Valera visits to Athy. Paddy’s father, after whom he was named, was a member of the local branch of the Irish Volunteers during the War of Independence. I have previously written of Paddy senior and his brother John who was also a member of the Volunteers and who was imprisoned in Portlaoise Prison following his arrest by the R.I.C. at his home in Offaly Street. Others who died during the pre and post-Christmas period included Kathleen Fenner, James Quigley, Paddy Kelly, Joe Delaney, James Fitzpatrick, Frank Gregory, Mary Mannion and Philip Maher. All were members of our local community whose passing brought sadness to many homes over the Christmas season. As I began to write this week’s Eye I learned of the death of Emma Carbery, daughter of my school mate Jerry Carbery. Emma was a young wife and mother who was actively involved in the community and her popularity was evidenced by the large numbers who attended her funeral Mass. Within days of Emma’s passing she was joined in death by Anthony Lynch, Donal Chambers and Mary O’Rourke. Mary supported her husband Dom over many years to achieve great success for the local St. Michael’s Boxing Club and was by his side when he was elected President of the Irish Amateur Boxing Association some years ago. The incomprehensibly complex relationships within a community cast their threads wide, and it is only as those threads unravel that we begin to value and appreciate the importance of the links which bring us together as a community. The passing of so many members of our local community in the weeks before and after the festive season of Christmas brought sorrowful loss not only to families and family relations but to the wider community. My sympathies to the families and relations of those who have gone from us in those past few weeks.