Obituaries 17-11-2012

Mick Ward, Kells The passing of Mr Mick Ward, Dulane, Kells, was the source of widespread sadness to his friends, neighbours and a large circle of friends. Those who met him at football matches, card games, parish activities and in the shop in Dulane found him to be a caring, fun loving gentleman. Mr Ward passed away peacefully at Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, aged 88 years, on 1st November last. Mr Ward was born and spent all his life at the crossroads in Dulane. He attended school in Kells. He farmed the family farm in Dulane, and married Sheila in 1955 in Moynalty. He and Sheila began a shop at the crossroads in the early 1940s and ran it for 60 years. They ran the shop at the time of 'the slate', the account book where people paid monthly, or when they had money. The shop closed its doors for the last time in 2003. This shop became the heart and gathering point of the local area. The large numbers of friends who attended at his home and the funeral recalled wonderful stories of kind acts, events and debates on football, politics and local affairs at the shop in Dulane. Mr Ward also worked as a postman in Kells for 18 years until his retirement in 1987. He was an avid follower of local football and Meath teams and was a frequent visitor to Croke Park. He played football for Dulane, Carnaross, and North Meath and was president and a Trustee of Carnaross GFC at the time of his passing. He took great pride in the Junior and Intermediate Championship victories in 1991 and 1993. Deceased enjoyed social card playing all his life, playing Three Fifteens on a weekly basis up until recent times. Many recalled the fun and good company spent among friends. The attendance of so many of his colleagues from social, business, work and the extended GAA organisation at his home and his funeral, showed the esteem and respect in which people held him. He was foremost a devoted family man, who loved nothing more than to be in the company of family and friends in Dulane where he was so happy. He was the last surviving member of the family of Patrick and Mary Anne Ward of Dulane, predeceased by his son, Thomas; sisters, Maggie and Josie; brothers, Phil, Pat, Frank, Tommy, Val, and Ben. He is survived by his wife, Sheila; daughter, Anne, Kells; sons, Gerard, Johnsbrook, Tony, Ratoath, Derek, Dublin, and Aidan, Navan. The funeral took place from the Church of the Sacred Heart, Mullaghea to Dulane cemetery. Members of the Carnaross GAA club provided a guard of honour. A month's memory Mass will be held on Sunday 9th December at 11.15am in the Church of the Sacred Heart, Mullaghea. ____________________________________________________________ Patrick Crosby, Navan There was great sadness at the death of Patrick Crosby, Brews Hill, Navan, on 18th October last, aged 94. A native of Whitewood, Nobber, he was predeceased in 1992 by his wife Kathleen. Mr Crosby worked in Tara Mines for many years. He was an accomplished handball player in his youth and loved gardening and the GAA, was a long time supporter of Navan O Mahony's GAA club. Deceased was remembered by O'Mahonys captain, Mark Brennan, and manager Davy Nelson after the club's recent county senior championship final win. He was an excellent neighbour on Brews Hill and will be greatly missed by both friends and family. Deceased is survived by his sons, Pat, Tony and John; daughters-in-law, Maura, Mary and Helena; grandchildren, Derek, Lorraine, Sinead, Lisa, Shane, Sarah, Susan and Katie; great-grandchildren, Cailean, Fionn, Oisín, Emily and Jack; and extended family. The funeral took place from St Mary's Church, Navan, to Nobber Cemetery. A month's memory Mass takes place in St Mary's Church on Sunday 2nd December at 1pm. ___________________________________________________________ Mary Curley, Navan There was considerable regret following the death on 6th October last of Mrs Mary Curley (nee Heffernan), Windtown, and Gilltown, Navan, at Millbury Nursing Home, Navan. Wife of the late Michael Curley, she was aged 97 and a native of Doolough, Belmullet, Co Mayo. She and her husband Michael had the distinction of being among the passengers on the last tram out of Howth in the 1950s. Deceased attended bingo until the last two years of her life. She enjoyed watching snooker and GAA on television, especially when Mayo was playing. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great great grandmother. Mrs Curley was predeceased by her husband, Michael, in August 1978 and son, David, in 2004. She is survived by her daughters, Anne Stanley, Gilltown, Navan, Bernie Forde, Claregalway, Co Galway, and Pamela O'Reilly, Dean Cogan Place, Navan; sons, Michael, Commons Road, and Gabriel, London; and sister, Theresa Doran, Gibbstown, Navan, as well as extended family. The funeral took place from St Mary's Church, Navan, to Gibbstown Cemetery. ____________________________________________________________ Patricia Eccleston, Drumconrath Mrs Patricia Eccleston, Greenan, Drumconrath, who died on 18th October last, was a member of the Butler family of Castle Street, Kells, and was married to Mr Tom Eccleston. Deceased was a former member of Kells Badminton Club, where she played for many years. She played a very active part in all aspects of Drumconrath community life and was an active member of the Drumconrath parish choir. Deceased was a very popular and caring person who valued her community and whose community valued her. She is survived by her husband, Tom, brother, Patrick, Birmingham; sister, Rosie Lynch, Woburn Sands, England; brother-in-law; sisters-in-law; nephews and nieces; relatives and friends. She was predeceased by her brothers, Jimmy, Davey and Phil Butler; and sisters, Rosalin, Kitty, Madge McCarthy and Moira Lalor. The funeral took place from the Church of Ss Peter and Paul, Drumconrath, to Drumconrath cemetery, attended by a larrge congregation of family and friends. _____________________________________________________________ Trevor West, Trinity College The death occurred on 30th October last of Professor Trevor West, of Charleston, Ballinacurra, Co Cork, and Trinity College, Dublin. Professor West was biographer of the founder of the Co-operative Movement founder, Sir Horace Plunkett of Dunsany, and unveiled a plaque to Plunkett in Dunsany some years back in memory of local historian, the late Mr David Lynch. The maths lecturer was also well-known as a cricket administrator, and was very involved in sports clubs in Trinity College, where many Meath students would have had dealings with him. He served as a senator for over a decade from 1970. At his funeral Mass in St Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork, Professor West was described as a "true Renaissance man" by the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, Dr Paul Colton. Deceased was born in Cork on 8th May 1938, where his father was headmaster of Midleton College. In the Intermediate Certificate he was one of two students in Ireland to achieve 100 per cent in the mathematics examination. He moved to the High School in Dublin, before going to Trinity to read mathematics. He was awarded a scholarship and thus began a deep love of Trinity. He attained a first in mathematics and embarked on research in pure mathematics. This led him to research years at St John's College, Cambridge, and he became one of a rare and remarkable group - the recipient of an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship. Then came some years at the University of Glasgow, followed by further research work and teaching at the University of California, Los Angeles, before returning to TCD as a lecturer and making it his academic home, serving as Junior Dean between 1974 and 1978, and ultimately becoming Senior Fellow and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. An election agent for Mary Robinson's Seanad campaign, he was elected to Seanad Eireann in 1970, following the untimely death of Senator Owen Sheehy-Skeffington. He was re-elected in 1973, 1977 and 1983. Famously, along with Senator John Horgan, he gave his support in November 1973 to the Family Planning Bill proposed by Senator Mary Robinson. Deceased exerted influence throughout his political life, notably during the peace process on the Unionist community and on paramilitaries from the UDA and UVF. Ulick O'Connor, in his obituary of Gusty Spence, pointed out that Professor West 'had a huge effect in bringing opposing sides together in Northern Ireland.' Bishop Colton said Trevor West's service to us all on this island, in the peace process, by helping to bring those loyalist paramilitaries to the table of discussion should not be forgotten. Deceased became a Governor of Midleton College in 1974, taking the seat his father had held. He served as a Governor for 36 years, 24 of those as chairman. Trevor West spent 40 years as an officer of the Dublin University Central Athletic Club and was for 30 years its chairman. He was president of the Dublin University Cricket Club from 1974 to 1980 and again from 1983 to 1984, a position he held also in the Dublin University Association Football Club from 1968 to 1971. This was matched by years of commitment to both the Irish Universities Rugby Union and the Irish Universities Cricket Association. He established the sports scholarships at Trinity, and sourced seed-funding for the sports building opposite Pearse Street DART Station. Professor West is remembered as a great character, with a great sense of humour and was a friend to many crossing many barriers. He had a sense of decorum while, at the same time, thriving on the raucous ruck and vitality of vigorous sporting and social occasions. He published a number of histories of people and things which interested him, including 'Horace Plunkett: Co-operation and Politics, an Irish biography' In 1998, Professor West joined the late Edward Plunkett, Lord Dunsany, to unveil a plaque commemorating Horace Plunkett and the co-operative movement, in Dunsany Hall, in memory of local historian David Lynch. His address at the time was entitled 'Horace Plunkett and his ideals', and as well as looking at his agricultural endeavours, he also focussed on Plunkett's efforts to bridge understanding between the different traditions on the island. Professor West is survived by his wife, Maura Lee; brothers, sisters-in-law; step-son; nephews and nieces; and a wide circle of friends in Trinity, Midleton, and in the world of sport. ____________________________________________________________ Dr Thomas O'Connor, NUI Galway The death occurred at the University Hospital, Galway, on 6th November last, after a short illness, of Dr Thomas C O'Connor, who organised the annual heritage series of lectures at Lismullin House Conference Centre, Navan. Dr O'Connor, an internationally known physicist and an expert in atmospheric and environmental physics with a global reputation, was born in Naas, Co Kildare in July 1931. He attended Newbridge College and then went to study physics in University College, Dublin. While there, he won a Fulbright scholarship to Harvard and pursued his doctoral studies in Camgridge, MA and in UCD. In 1956, after a period of research in the meteorology and geophysics section of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, he joined the then Department of Physics in UCG, now NUI Galway, where he initiated a research programme in atmospheric and environmental physics. In the mid 1950s, also joined Opus Dei, the organisation which is now a personal prelature of the Catholic Church, and helped with the establishment in Galway of its first centre for students there. This was Gort Ard University Residence in Salthill and for a period he was the director there while still totally engaged in his teaching and research work on various projects in the Physics Department of UCG. After the Department had moved to its current premises in 1973 he led a project on wind energy with local industrialists. In May, 2008, he and others celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Mace Head Atmospheric Research Station, located on the west coast near Carna, Co Galway. One of Dr O'Connor's great interests was the history of science and in particular the role of Irish scientists in this. This led him to initiate and maintain over the past ten years a series of lectures on aspects of Irish heritage, initially focusing on science but soon broadening out to encompass all aspect of our heritage. These lectures - and occasional day-long seminars - were organised by him at Opus Dei's educational centre at Lismullin Conference Centre. In the course of the ten years over which he organised these there were about seven or eight lectures each year on topics such as 'Genetics and the origin of the Irish population', 'Ireland's equine heritage', and 'St Patrick at Tara: history of myth', given by some 80 speakers and attended by hundreds of participants each year. The most recent of these chaired by Dr O'Connor himself was on the merchants and mariners of Meath in the 16th century, given by Dr Fionnan Tuite. He was by predeceased by his brothers, Joe and Paddy, and his sister, Mary. He is survived by his sister-in-law, Shelia, nieces and nephews; many friends and his colleagues in the scientific community. His funeral took place in Salthill, Galway, on Wednesday last. ____________________________________________________________ Sr M Beata Gerrity, New York Expressions of sympathy with the family and community of Sr Mary Beata Gerrity, who died in New York on 27th October last were extended by members of Meath County Council at their November meeting. Sr Beata, who was a member of the Mercy Order for 53 years, was said to have "kept the Irish community together in New York" by Cllr Noel Leonard. Cllr Leonard said that he had visited New York on a number of occasions and each time he was very encouraged by the great spirit of Sr Beata. "She was a model of everything that was Irish", he said. Cllr John Farrelly said he was saddened by the death of Sr Beata who had extended a great welcome to Meath people when they visited the US. Cllr Ann Dillon Gallagher said that Sr Beata was "a wonderful nun and a great person". "When I came across her first she very much kept me in line when we were in the St Patrick's Day parade down 5th Avenue. I know that she was very touched by the civic reception accorded to her by Meath County Council some years ago", she said. Cllr Brian Fitzgerald also paid tribute, saying that Sr Beata's father had started the Meath Association in New York. "She was such a wonderful person", he said. "I don't know if any taxi driver could drive around Manhattan like Sr Beata did!" Kevin Stewart, Director of Services with the council extended the sympathy of the staff to Sr Beata's family whom, he said, had Moynalty connections. Sr Beata died at Winthrop Hospital, Long Island on 27th October. She was born in Brooklyn and attended St Teresa of Avila School and Catherine McAuley High School before entering the Mercy Order in 1959. She held a master's degree in music and had performed and recorded several music albums and CDs. She proudly claimed her Irish heritage through her beautiful voice. She is survived by her sister, Eileen Feeney, and brother, Brian Gerrity. ____________________________________________________________ Walter Browne, Greenogue The death of Mr Walter Browne, Greenogue, Kilsallaghan, Co Dublin, on 20th October last, was the source of widespread regret. He was aged 80 and passed away peacefully at Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown. Deceased was a native of Greenogue. He worked in Rocrete, Feltrim, until his retirement, and previously in Unidare, Finglas, and Dardis and Dunnes in Ashbourne. He had played football for Donaghmore. Deceased enjoyed playing golf, gardening and following Everton Football Club. Mr Browne is survived by his wife, Vera; sons, Patrick, Christy and Derek; daughters, Helena and Lisa; brother, Noel; and cousins, Paddy Joe Kearns and Phil Sinnott. Mr Browne was buried in Greenogue Cemetery after a funeral Mass in Donaghmore Church on 22nd October last.