TOMMY KELLY RIP

Tommy's funeral mass on 21 April 2022

Tommy was a bit older than me and I didn't get to know him very well when we were young. I do remember, though, staying in my granny's house in Ballyhaunis for a short period when Tommy was there. I remember playing trains out in the back field.

I would also have met him in his parents' house in Clontarf where I used to go after school in Belgrove to await picking up by my father on his way home from work.

Tommy and Gretta on their wedding day 18 June 1963

Not long after they were married Tommy and Gretta moved to Trim, where Tommy became the County Court Clerk.

There was subsequently a story that cousin Colette was caught speeding in Tommy's bailiwick and was glad that Trim was a fair distance from Castlebar so there would be no need for family or neighbours to know the story. She had clearly forgotten Tommy, so even I got to know about that.

I visited the family a few times in Trim. To my recollection the only children in the family at that time were Brendan and Susan - "the sheriff" and a very determined young lady.

I remember being introduced to the echo. No, not a local newspaper but a real echo, one with a significant delay, so you really thought it was someone calling you back.

Tommy's son Brendan's eulogy at the funeral mass was a revelation. It included a huge part of Tommy's life that I didn't know at all.

Brendan commented that for a True Blue Dub, Tommy oddly was a huge fan of Mayo GAA. Though he concedes that may not be all that odd given Tommy's Mayo connections, on which, incidentally he beats me.

And he’s one of the few people alive to have seen Mayo win an All – Ireland. Imagine that. The Year of the Curse. Mayo has won three All-Ireland Senior Football Championships; 1936, 1950, 1951. Our uncle Jimmy was on the 1932 team which went to America but sadly missed winning an All Ireland medal. Even sadder, the team has acquired a long-term record for reaching eleven All-Ireland Senior finals only to fall at the ultimate hurdle in 1989, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2021. Nearly broke my heart in recent years. Of course many believers put this down to The Curse reportedly put on the team by the local PP as they returned through Foxford on their way back from their 1951 win and disrespected a funeral going through the town at the time. The Curse was supposed to last until the last member of that team died. The fact that there was no funeral in Foxford that day is ignored.

Now Brendan, at the time, was advising Tommy's funeral attendees to place bets on, as Mayo were nailed on certainties for Sam this year.

Happily that did not come to pass, as this was the first year to see the team play after the death of the last member of the 1951 team and a win would have given substance to The Curse. Next year, Brendan.

Tommy (1937 - 2022)

Tommy didn't stay for the rest of his life as Court Clerk in Trim. He went on to become Chief Clerk of the Circuit court in the Four Courts in Dublin.

And when he retired from that, remarkably at the age of 63, he qualified as a solicitor and he continued to dabble in the Legal world right up to the time of his death.

Tommy, apparently, was a great traveller and visited far away places including: Moscow, Kiev, Zambia, Florida, London and Birmingham. Nearer home he loved Kerry and also in particular Louisburg in Co. Mayo, the music in Mossie’s and especially the days on Silver Strand & Carrowniskey beach watching his grandchildren surfing.

He was a keen golfer and bridge player and a lover of the Beautiful Game. He had seen Stanley Matthews play and many other heroes. Even I remember the iconic Stanley Matthews and I have little interest in the game. I do remember, though, taking down the pools results from BBC radio for my Da on Saturday afternoons while he was in the plot or in the pub.

At a more personal level, Brendan advises Tommy's ten grand-children when they think of Tommy to think of words like : integrity, humility, authenticity, decency, generosity, and kindness. Amen to that.

Brendan referred to one of the condolences the family received on RIP.ie , which he said summed up his dad completely with the simple phrase … “He was a gentleman, and a gentle man”

This reminded me of Maureen Grant's description of Tommy's father as a gentleman when I spoke with her a good while back in the bar of the Olympia theatre where Tom Kelly had been a barman for many years.

"Tommy took is final breath on Easter Sunday, 17 April 2022, at 6pm surrounded by his 4 children and an incredible amount of love."

May he rest in peace.

Brendan's Eulogy