PADDY MEDLAR

St Killian's Church, Kingswood, 3/1/2020
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Paddy Medlar was 94 and in good form when he died suddenly on 27 December 2019.

Paddy was a first cousin of my mother's, in other words my first cousin once removed, if your into that sort of thing. I mention it because it was only when I got stuck into my family history in recent years that I got to know Paddy better through his niece Colette.

Paddy was the son of PJ Medlar, undertaker and City Councillor, but he made his own mark on his native city through a lifelong career in Sisks.

My main contact with the Medlars up to then had been Paddy's sister Mai, who was my godmother. Mai died in 2011 and Paddy was the last survivor of PJ's children.

Gerry Fleming

The funeral was celebrated by Fr. Gerry Fleming, whose father was a first cousin and a buddy of Paddy's. I won't mention Gerry's four grannies, as that is a long story for another day. I will mention that Gerry was a fine dancer in his day, an accomplishment to which he made allusion in the course of the ceremony.

David Medlar

Paddy's son David gave the eulogy. He referred to Paddy joining the builders Sisk in a most junior position and rising in the course of a long career to be in charge of purchasing. He mentioned Paddy's playing football (soccer!) and his love of music. He told us of Connie chasing Paddy up Grafton St. with marriage in mind and how she only managed to catch him due to his knee being injured from the football (Paddy's version). As Connie wasn't there to defend herself, David made clear that Connie herself was a great catch, her being a Royalette and all.

A significant message from the eulogy was that nobody ever had a bad word to say about Paddy. Unfortunately Paddy's contemporaries were no longer around to back up this story, but knowing Paddy I'll take David's word for it. Mind you, Paddy was occasionally given to bouts of whistling but these were never translated into words by either himself or Connie, at least not in front of the children.

Paddy & Connie on their Wedding Day

This is a detail from Paddy's & Connie's wedding group photo which Paddy gave me a short while ago. I had been doing some research on the Medlars, Paddy's father in particular, and over the last few years Paddy had been feeding me wonderful material including photos, original documents and paper cuts, not to mention his own stories.

David, Niall, Don & Gerry

The photo above was taken at the graveside where Paddy's three sons, with a little help from the congregation, gave Paddy a right Royal send off with one of Paddy's favourites - George Formby's Lamppost Song.


So let's go out on a high note. And may Paddy rest in peace.