This blog is a personal take on Listowel, Co. Kerry. I am writing for anyone anywhere with a Listowel connection but especially for sons and daughters of Listowel who find themselves far from home. Contact me at listowelconnection@gmail.com

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Mary Cogan, retired from teaching in Presentation Secondary School, Listowel, Co. Kerry. I am a native of Kanturk, Co. Cork.
I have published two books; Listowel Through a Lens and A minute of your Time

John J. Foley

The Square

Brilliant Footballers

Photo: Radio Kerry

All Ireland champions 2024

Behind the Smiles

Photos from Rte website

Delighted Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy on the podium at Paris 2024 holding aloft their prizes and wearing their hard earned gold medals.

But what is in those long boxes that everyone is being presented with along with their medals.?

Answer; A map of Paris

Look at the happy smiles on those two Cork faces. Observe the gaunt, spare frames. They haven’t eaten a solid meal in months. They have put in hours and hours af gruelling training. They have sacrificed everything to their sport. The jokes and banter hide a steely determination coupled with talent and perseverance second to none.

John J. Foley of Tralee

Maeve Heneghan sent us this photo of her great grandfather. Let me remind you of his Listowel connection from 1901.

Foley was a local performer, singer and reciter of humorous verses, some of which he wrote himself.

In 1901 when he was aged 34 Foley performed at a grand concert in Listowel. So popular was his act that the audience called for an encore and in that slot Foley recited his own poem, Thade Kelly’s Hen.

There was once in Ireland a taste for long humorous ballads, usually recited in a rhythm that made the words easy to remember for the performer. The poem told a story, often far fetched and ludicrous. I’m thinking here of the likes of The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God or Dangerous Dan McGrew, which were favourite dramatic monologues in musicals and concerts at the time.

There was then, as there is now, a certain kind of literary snob who looked down on this type of literature and, failing to live and let live, insisted that this “inferior” entertainment be purged from public performances.

Here is the ballad of Thade Kelly’s Hen, discovered during her research by a U.S. scholar, Christan Bush. The poem is from a newspaper archive and so of poor quality.

A local literary snob, who was at the concert took exception to Foley’s performance and his murdering, as he saw it, of the English language. This man wrote anonymously to the paper decrying the performance.

Back and forth the trolling and defence went on in the Kerry newspapers. Eventually the anonymous critic was unveiled as no other than Thomas F. O’Sullivan, a Listowel journalist and author. So self righteous and incensed was O’Sullivan that he descended to expressing himself in language so defamatory that the paper refused to print any more of his ranting.

This O’Sullivan was very well respected in Listowel and in 1993 a movement was started to erect a monument to him. His ill tempered spat with Foley was not his finest hour.

Now to John J. Foley who was Maeve’s great grandfather. Maybe he is the one who should have the memorial erected to him.

John lived with his family in Moyderwell, Tralee from where he conducted a thriving business as a painter and signwriter.

He was a member of the choir of St. John’s church and the Tralee Philharmonic Society. He was in demand as a performer in local concerts and shows.

He was a talented man of refinement and taste. Maeve sent us this photograph of his magnificent work on the ceiling of the chapel at Balloonagh convent.

The convent is now closed and serves as a nursing home. According to the internet, concerts have been held in the chapel. The chapel is a listed building.

I think John J. Foley’s work on the ceiling is magnificent. Remember it was done in 1901 when equipment for accessing places like this was not as readily available as it is today.

Well done John J. Foley, an ancestor to be proud of.

+ Mary Stack R.I.P.+

Last week we said goodbye to one of the most glamorous of Listowel grannies. I only knew Mary through her involvement with the local chapter of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. She was a lovely lady.

Barbara is following in her mother’s footsteps with her dedication to charitable works. I took this photo of Barbara and Mary in Main Street on M.S. Busking Day 2018.

Here is Jennifer Scanlon’s lovely tribute to her beloved grandmother. I copied this from Facebook.

Mary, Mag, Mam,Mamie, Nana, Gan. Mary Stack had many titles and she relished every role that she fulfilled. She was our matriarch, an incredible woman of dignity, integrity strength and resilience. She led the way by her example. 
She reached the wonderful age of 91, her quick wit and humour with her until the very end. She loved to travel and possessed a spirit of adventure and independence to be admired and emulated. 
I am eternally grateful for her love, guidance, friendship, encouragement and support. She was my cheerleader and encouraged me to keep going and “mind that shop”.
Nana was integral to my life when I had my babies, she minded Robbie, Lila and Ogie in her kitchen when they were tiny babies and I was straight back to work. She allowed me that time. I would be behind the counter and she would appear at the door with a baby and say you’ll have to come in to feed! We would swap positions and she would serve my customers while I fed the baby. We made a great team. She got her hip done when Lila was 9 months old and she was delighted to have the buggy to do her walking because there was no way she’d be seen with a walking frame in public. 
Gan wanted to be at home, her home in the shop where she has lived for over 70 years. She got her wish.  Her loving family wrapped themselves around her and cared for her in her final days, where she was and always wanted to be. 
We knew she was declining the last few days, but she insisted I press on with my sale. The show goes on. Ever the professional. 
My shop is right beside her kitchen and I’d pop my head in to see her throughout the day. She would look at me from her blue chair and wink at me and ask “are you busy?” I’d answer and she would say, “go back out now and mind your shop” and I did, I kept the shop face on as best I could. 
We will miss her so much. Her kitchen; always warm and cosy (too hot for me) will not be the same with the empty blue chair in the corner. 
I am the 6th generation of Stacks to trade at The Arcade and I will endeavour to make my nana proud and guide a thriving business into the future. I am beyond grateful for the opportunities she gave to me .

❤️

 Rest in Peace Gan

A Fact

Early Olympians competed wearing only loincloths. In 2024 some athletes favour figure hugging bodysuits. I’m told the tightness of the costume is to compress the muscles and make the body more aerodynamic.

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A Friday Miscellaney

John B. Keane’s

In Ballincollig

Meitheal at work; Tidy Towers and volunteers from the nearby estate cutting back the grass that was encroaching on to the footpath at Carriganarra Road, Ballincollig.

Something for the Weekend

from the internet

J.J. Foley Entertainer

Maeve Heneghan has been in touch. Maeve is the great granddaughter of John Foley of Tralee.

For those of you who have forgotten the story of this man and his entertaining rhyme of Thade Kelly’s hen, I hope to revisit it all next week. I have forgotten how it started but it was an American scholar who was researching a little known Irish poet.

Look out for a laugh on this one next week.

A Fact

A typical microwave oven uses more electricity keeping its digital clock on standby than it does heating food.

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Into the Long Weekend

St. John’s

A Poem we Learned at School

Something for The Weekend

A Facelift

From the Inbox

Mary,

I have looked at the statue of John B. In Main Street, Listowel many times over the years. I marvel at the skill of the sculptor in portraying John as he will always be, in my mind’s eye; his arms waving in a joyous welcome to Listowel and a delighted smile on his face at meeting you. 

In his youth John was a Greek scholar in St Michael’s College, Listowel, so I think it appropriate to show here a conversation between Socrates and the Athenian sculptor, Crito; written by Xenophon, a student of Socrates and a name very familiar to any Greek scholar.

“Socrates, in conversation with the statuary Clito, showeth his skill and good taste in the Finer Arts.

Talking with Clito, the sculptor, Socrates said to him, “I wonder not that you make so great a difference between the statue of a man who is running a race and that of one who stands his ground to wait for his antagonist with whom he is to wrestle, or to box, or to play a prize at all sorts of defence; but what ravishes the beholders is, that your statues seem to be alive. I would fain know by what art you imprint upon them this wonderful vivacity?” Clito, surprised at this question, stood considering what to answer, when Socrates went on: –“Perhaps you take great care to make them resemble the living persons, and this is the reason that they seem to live likewise.” “It is so,” said Clito. “You must then,” replied Socrates, “observe very exactly in the different postures of the body what are the natural dispositions of all the parts, for when some of them stoop down, the others raise themselves up; when some are contracted, the others stretch themselves out; when some are stiff with straining, others relax themselves; and when you imitate all this, you make your statues approach very near life.” “You say true,” said Clito. “is it not true likewise,” replied Socrates, “that it is a great satisfaction to beholders to see all the passions of a man who is in action well expressed? Thus, in the statue of a gladiator who is fighting, you must imitate the sternness of look with which he threatens his enemy; on the contrary, you must give him, when victor, a look of gaiety and content.” “There is no doubt of what you say.” “We may then conclude,” said Socrates, “that it is the part of an excellent statuary to express the various affections and passions of the soul, by representing such-and-such motions and postures of the body as are commonly exerted in real life whenever the mind is so-and-so affected.”

The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates, Xenophon 431 BC -350? BC”

Appropriate prior thoughts for the Sculptor of our Greek scholar.

For those of us who knew John B. in real life it would be an enjoyable exercise for us to reflect on Socrates words; standing in front of the statue in Main St Listowel.

Thanks

Billy McSweeney

My recent visitors at the statue in question

A Fact

You are 14% more likely to die on your birthday than on any other day.

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Listowel People

A Corner of The Square

After the Greenway Cycle

Marlene and Liz met up with their friends, Mary and Miriam for a bit of well earned rest and recovery. Miriam sent the pictures.

Eileen Moylan, Designer in Gold and Silver and Precious Stones

Photo credit; Ger Holland

For a few years Eileen Moylan was the designer commissioned to design and make the presentation piece, named for John B. Keane and sponsored by Mercier Press which was presented by Listowel Writers’ Week to the person chosen to receive recognition for their lifetime contribution to the Arts.

These pieces are one-off treasures, researched, designed, customised and lovingly made at Eileen’s studio in Macroom. Eileen’s attention to detail in all her work is legendary.

If you win an Oscar you just get a statuette, the same as everybody else’s. If you won a Lifetime Achievement award at Listowel Writers’ Week you got something unique, an absolutely beautiful hand made bespoke piece from a silversmith at the top of her game.

Fr. Antony Gaughan was the recipient of one such piece. He absolutely loved it, as did everyone who was lucky enough to get one. Fr. Tony has donated his piece to Kerry Writers’ Museum where it is on display for us all to see and admire. It is even more special for Listowel people than the beautiful Edna O’Brien piece because Eileen’s design incorporates so many lovely Listowel landmarks.

A Poem for Our Time

Still I Rise

BY MAYA ANGELOU

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don’t you take it awful hard

’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I’ve got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I’m including this great poem today as a tribute to Kamala Harris who has risen to top rung of the ladder.

Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak is the genealogist who traced Barack Obama to Moneygall. She has spoken out on the subject of Harris’s family tree. Detractors have pointed to slave owners in her pedigree as well as slaves. But it is a horrid fact of slavery that owners regarded female slaves as their property to rape at will. Rape was a fact of life for female slaves. Not only their owners, but sons of owners, foremen, friends of owners and other random white men saw it as their right to rape slave girls. So the fact that she has slave owners in her ancestry is no surprise to genealogists.

It’s simply a fact of life.

A Postbox in Kildare Train Station

Victorian, I presume. Still in use.

Does anyone know why they used to put postboxes in train stations?

A Fact

A greeting card that can play Happy Birthday has more computer power than existed in the whole world in 1950.

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Outdoor Pursuits

Molly in clover on the John B. Keane Road

From My Inbox

Hello 

I found your website from google search and with the recent passing of my Dad i decided to look into my family tree, i starting using the tools available to my online and i came across that my Great Grandad was in the army in the early 1900s based in Listowel , i have found alot of documents of his but most are unclear. I was just interested to find out more but struggling to find much information. I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction. He had something to do with horses at the age of 18 with 21st reserve Bn Lancs, and it seems he continued that interest on after leaving the army.. There are records that say he may have lived on William Street and has connections with a shoe repair shop by the name J.J walsh approx 1915s… Any more information you could provide would be gratefully appreciated..

Kind Regards 

Andrew Cain

Kay Caball is helping Andrew to research details of his great grandfather’s time in Listowel. Maybe someone reading this has information that might help Andrew with his Listowel connection.

On The Greenway

I was having a cuppa and a chat in Lizzie’s busy café when two ladies came in. I remembered Marlene (sitting next to me in the photo) but I discovered that her sister, Liz (far left) is also a bit of a fan of Listowel Connection and Just a Thought.

Marlene and Liz were fuelling up before they cycled the Greenway. Liz promised to send me a photo and an account of their adventure. Marlene confessed that she had never ridden a bike with gears. When she last rode a bike, the only power was pedal power.

Liz and Marlene (daughters of the late Bill and Pat Kearney) all kitted out and ready to go. Marlene told me that one wag asked if she had made her will.

The ladies had a ball and really enjoyed their first cycle on our greenway.

Here is Liz’s account.

Two ladies, formerly Listowel, currently residing in ‘Tír na nÓg’, pedalled the Greenway from Listowel to Abbeyfeale, Tuesday, 23 July. 
Grateful for the encouragement of LikeBikes staff, Andy – ‘you will surprise yourselves’ – and Diane – definitely avail of his help to adjust your bike – and for our encounter with John in Kilmorna – ‘ye have all day’ – and the two ladies who pointed out that we had cycled past Abbeyfeale and directed us to ‘An Siopa Milseán’, a homely sweet shop, surprising visitors with option of coffee or ice cream too! Our two ‘99s set us up for homeward journey!
It was a lovely section of Greenway, mostly flat, edged with wildflowers and offering a peaceful view of Duagh and beyond. We couldn’t help hearing the lilt of some of John B’s songs referencing Abbeyfeale in our minds!
Great amenity!

Note from me….my visitors made the same mistake and overshot the exit for Abbeyfeale. Maybe it needs better signage.

A Listowel Gardener

James Kenny with his first sunflower of 2024

+ Edna O’Brien R.I.P.+

A Listowel connection

Photo credit (all photos) ; Ger Holland

This is the absolutely beautiful trophy awarded to Edna O’Brien as the recipient of the John B. Keane Lifetime Contribution to the Arts Award at Listowel Writers’ Week 2018.

Eileen is not just a master silversmith goldsmith, she is a supremely talented jewellery designer. She researched the recipient thoroughly and executed a unique personalised piece that was received with joy and treasured.

Ger Holland’s photo of Edna O’Brien in The Listowel Arms on opening night 2018.

Eileen Moylans, in her Facebook tribute to the late novelist, shared the grateful, appreciative note that Edna wrote to her after the presentation ceremony.

A Fact

One in fifty Americans claim to have been abducted by aliens.

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