Seán Ó Faoláin
at the class 50th anniversary dinner in 2013.
Click on any image for a larger version.
Sadly, John is no longer with us. He will be missed.
Although living in Adelaide, Australia, his presence was always with us. He was the catalyst for our, more or less annual, class reunions in recent years.
He was planning to come over this June again despite his mounting health problems. Indeed, in the last few years he has braved these and insisted in turning up at the reunions, even regaling us last time with an account of a car crash down the country during that visit home.
John lived just down the road from the Coláiste in Parnell Square in the Galway Arms Hotel. The advertisement above is from our school concert/pageant programme in 1963. You can check out the centrepiece of that programme where you will see John testing the waters as a stage manager, a career he decided not to follow up on!
2014
To say that John enlivened our class reunions would be a serious understatement. He put us on steroids either for or against whatever, often outrageous, often sensible, line he was advancing with his total conviction, bordering on Papal infallibility.
2006
It was this same confidence and perceptiveness which enabled him to build up the mega-business which goes by the deceptively modest title of Hyppo Envelopes.
Sa chlós
There are those among the Iarscoláirí who knew John much better than I did. Some of them have already expressed their appreciation and recounted yarns in private correspondence in recent days. If they were willing, I would be glad to receive such sentiments as comments to this brief blog post. [The blog is moderated so they would not appear immediately.]
John from the 1963 class photo
Even as we all get older and some of us, me included, change shape, we still see each other as we were in Coláiste, defying the evidence of our eyes.
I'm sure we are all united today in expressing our sympathy with Pat and the family.
For those without Gaeilge, just to clarify that the clós was the schoolyard at the top of which were the toilets, in front of which that photo is taken. After we left, it became the location for the Halla (hall) which, at the time, was a cutting edge building, now due to be demolished as the whole school site is to be developed as the Central City Library. This will depend on very substantial funding becoming available.
The school concert programme is, of course, in Irish, but the critical entry in this context is the Bainisteoirí Stáitse (Stage Managers) at the bottom where John's name is second on the list. One iarscoláire (past pupil) who is himself in that list has made the unkind remark that the stage manager category was a catch all honour for those "who can't sing or dance".
I have photos from some of our class reunions on my Coláiste website but am including some direct links here for convenience.
Seán's avatar on Facebook
Not forgetting Seán's universal passport referred to by An Ruiséalach in the comment below. This guy was acquired in Ennis at the Fleá Ceoil.
Just in:
ReplyDelete"While John spent most of his adult life in Australia, he never lost track of his Irish roots and, if I remember correctly, his East Clare family connections. I was unaware of his proficiency on the accordion, or squeezebox as he called it, and it was only when I met him for lunch in Ennis during the 2016 Fleadh Cheoil that I realised that he was not there as a mere spectator. As we parted after a long lunch, I asked him where he was going now?. In reply, he said that he was off to join in on the traditional sessions in the local pubs. This prompted a further question from me as to how he could just walk in on a session, after all he sounded more Aussie than Clare, to put it mildly. John gave me one of his mildly disdainful looks and replied:"I'll let my playing do the talking". Touché. He much enjoyed his two Fleadh visits, I suspect they were part of his 'to do" list and in that he succeeded admirably. RIP.
An Ruiséalach"
And another
ReplyDelete"Seán told me in recent years many things about himself of which I was unaware during our schooldays, such as his entrepreneurship in running dances and his love of Irish traditional music and the button accordion. I know of his great delight at being able to attend the Fleadh Cheoil for traditional music in his beloved Ennis in County Clare, during one of his recent visits.
It was Seán who instigated the annual reunions of the Class of ’63. In his well-organised way he gave plenty of notice of his planned visits and we arranged the reunions around them. He is our ‘founder’ and as befits his special status he was the life and soul of each reunion. He was good-humouredly realistic in drawing attention to the growing fragility of some of us, including himself.
In 2014 he wrote: 'Those times were precious to all of us and especially to me. That's why I keep pushing Foley's while most of us are still alive and able to make it.”
In 2016, when the possibility arose of having two reunions in Foley’s Bar, he wrote: "Whilst it's regrettable that we may therefore have two Foley's nights this year, I guess that's appropriate as we get to this age, where there may not be that many Foley’s left!”
In 2017, he wrote as follows to the Class of ’63: "I strongly recommend that you keep the date at Foley's, September 12, as its always great and enjoyable for those who can attend. Some of you will no doubt remember that I always used to say that 'We are all in the Departure Lounge now, waiting for our flights to be called’, and for that reason be at every gathering of the Rang of '63 possible. With all of the new heart disease medications now being trialled and with Novartis 'Entresto' to be released on our PBS here from tomorrow, there is hope that the heart can be partly repaired, or at least stabilised or slowed in its deterioration. Entresto is hailed as the best super drug in over a decade. We'll see."
We intend to continue with our reunions - from now on always to be held partly I think in Seán’s honour. He will be greatly missed this year, for his vitality, his wit, his stories, his link to the past and our exceptional Class of ’63. Alas, this year we won’t have Seán’s arrival to herald our reunion, but we’ll all be there nonetheless to raise a glass to him and to praise his name.
Diarmuid Peavoy"
You can see some of Diarmuid's photos featuring Seán here
Lovely tribute Póló.
ReplyDelete