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

Tag: Jim Cogan Page 1 of 4

Life and Death

Wild flowers along the John B. Keane Road

Interesting Artefact

shared online by John O’Leary

A Week for Remembering

It was a coincidence that Jim Cogan’s anniversary this year fell on the same week as the annual graveyard mass. This mass always attracts a huge congregation to remember and honour our loved ones who are buried here.It is a precious tradition and also a big honour for all the hard working people who keep John Paul 2 cemetery looking so lovely.

In certain countries there is a tradition of leaving a stone on a grave when you visit. Having a big pile of stones on your grave is a kind of badge of honour.

We don’t have that traditiion here and it’s actually not a very fair tradition really since some family live near the grave of a loved one and many live very far away.

At Jim Cogan’s grave his daughter in law, Carine, uses her crochet talents to make a coverings for stones. She is currently redoing the coverings for all the tribute stones and we will replace them on the grave. The grandchildren bring shells from the beach. All tributes matter.

Lidl

I can’t keep up with progress here at all. As a local man remarked, “It’s flying up.”

Knockanure

Looking up the hill to Knockanure

This new planting marks a lovely entrance to the village.

From the vantage point of the church steps, it was so refreshing to look out over lush countryside. A farmer was cutting hay on the day I visited. In the distance the wind turbines, now a feature of the Irish countryside, were turning.

A Fact

In Darwin, Australia in 2017 a camel ran away from a circus. There was pandemonium as he ran on to a busy road and traffic was brought to a standstill. He was eventually caught and returned to the circus. He had made his way on to a golf course.

+ Jim Cogan +

Jim Cogan 1948 – 2013

…”For that dash represents all the time
that they spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved them
know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own,
the cars…the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.”

Linda Ellis

Photo: John Stack

"He was my North, my South, my East and West, 
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; ...."
W.H. Auden

Remembering

Magnificent tree in Listowel Pitch and Putt Course in June 2023

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Remembering an Inspirational Friend in Littor

His friends have erected a lovely beach memorial to Fr. Pat Moore on the beach near his family home where he loved to walk.

Photos and text from Asdee Community Development

On Fr Pat Moore’s 66th birthday, we want to sincerely thank Paddy Fitzell for his beautiful plaque commemorating Fr Pat, and our thanks to John & Hannah Fitzell for donating the plaque.

We also want to thank Tim Quilter for the stonework & the creation of this lovely commemorative seat, which now sits at the foot of Littor Road overlooking Fr Moore’s beloved Littor Strand.

The seat has taken much longer than we had hoped, hitting a number of setbacks, but it is now in place in time for summer. There are further finishing touches to be done in the coming months.

A final thanks to Kerry County Council who carried out work on the road entrance to the beach, allowing safe access to beach-goers for the months ahead.

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Remembering Fr. Bryan Dalton

Last week I got this email from Florida;

Hi,

My name is Duane Miller, I live in South Florida.  Our former parish priest was Father Bryan Dalton of St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Deerfield Beach, FL.  He passed away in 2018.

In my online research it says he was buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery in Listowel.  I am seeking some information on his burial, preferably a picture of his gravesite which could be uploaded to Findagrave.com.  Is this something you can assist with?

Best Regards,

Duane

I started with my neighbour, Jimmy Moloney, my go-to person on any civic queries. I didn’t make it clear that the burial was a recent one. He thought I had Florida relatives looking for an Irish emigrant ancestor.

In my search for the grave I found local undertakers to be the most helpful and obliging allies.

Noel Lyons told me where the priests were buried but I figured that Fr. Dalton was buried in a family grave rather than a single priest’s grave.

Noel sent me to RIP.ie to find out who the funeral directors were.

Seán Gleasure to the rescue. He told me that Gleasure’s Funeral Directors’ had looked after the funeral. He knew exactly where the grave was and even offered to take a photograph for me to send to Florida.

Here is the Dalton grave in St. Michael’s:

I was delighted to help Fr. Bryan’s Florida parishioners.

Sometimes the internet is wonderful at shrinking our world.

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Reunited in Listowel

It was nice to be together in Listowel, even if the occasion was a sad one.

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Dolly Day Photos Tomorrow

Meanwhile only in Listowel….

Listowel, Saturday June 24 2023, an unconvincing ‘nun’, an even more unconvincing Dolly Parton and a much too thin Elvis in Páirc Mhic Shithigh

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Teachers

April 2023

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April Horsefair 2023

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My Brave (aka Foolhardy) Easter Visitor

Cora felt that a trip to Ballybunion would be wasted without a bit of a dip. Her mother assures me she was well away from those dangerous looking waves. The camera foreshortened the distance.

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Listowel’s Presentation Sisters

Once upon a time the sisters used to be buried in a cemetery in the convent grounds. A nun’s funeral was a solemn ritual, full of ceremony and singing, her sisters chants accompanying their departed loved one into eternity. Now the local convent building and grounds, including the graveyard, is no longer sacred ground and the remains of the sisters are now interred in St. Michael’s Cemetery.

Many of the names on these simple stones are names of great women I knew as friends and work colleagues. They sacrificed much and their legacy will benefit Listowel and beyond for years to come.

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Retirement marked with a Tony O’Callaghan plaque

When Jim Cogan retired from St. Michael’s he was presented with a beautiful piece of Tony O’Callaghan’s artwork adorned with symbols of family, Jim’s work life and his interests. It is a treasure.

In the photograph with Jim are Bill Walshe and Fr. Seamus Linnane on behalf of the Board of Management and John Mulvihill, principal, St. Michael’s.

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Beautiful Signwriting

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A Fact

Both Shakespeare and Cervantes died on the same day, April 23 1616

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Mosaics and Painting

Convent Road, Listowel, Feb. 2023

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D Day in 1971

On this very day, February 15, in 1971 we officially changed from £sd to decimal currency. We had spend 2 years preparing for the changeover. We thought we’d never get used to it but we soon realised that life had got way easier and lighter.

To remind you of the good old days

There were 2 halfpennies in a penny, which we denoted with a d. There used to be farthings but we won’t go there)

There were 12 pence in a shilling which we sometimes balled a bob.

There was a threepence and sixpence which did what it said on the tin.

We had a 2 shilling piece and and a 2shillings and sixpence piece. We called this a half crown because there used to be a crown.

We won’t bother with the paper money but there was a guinea favoured by buyers and sellers of horses (No, I have no idea.) This was one pound and one shilling.

See what I mean when I said it got easier?

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Mosaics in St. Mary’s

On Feb. 1, St. Brigid’s Day, I brought you pictures of a few windows featuring our second patron saint. At mass that morning Canon Declan pointed out a mosaic of St. Bridget in our own parish church. My friend, Helen, our sacristan, pointed out the exact location of the mosaic to me. It is one of several saints perched very high up at either side of the main altar.

St. Brigid, ora pro nobis

She is dressed as a nun. We know she founded many convents and monasteries. She was an equal opportunities saint and welcomed both men and women into her orders. In her left hand she has an oak branch. St. Brigid founded her famous double monastery under an oak tree in Kildare town in the 5th Century. Hence the name Cill Dara, Church of the Oak. She has a bishop’s crosier under her right arm. Legend has it that she was the first female bishop. I dont know what she has in her right hand. It looks to me like some sort of lamp, a bit like the one Aladdin rubbed. It may be something to do with the fire that is associated with her. If you know what it is please tell me.

This is St. Ita

St. Patrick

The fourth mosaic saint is St. Brendan but the spotlight on him was too strong to photograph on the day I visited the church. Interestingly, St. Patrick’s crosier seems to be topped with a celtic cross in place of the traditional shepherd’s crook.

St. Patrick is also celebrated in St. Mary’s on one of the wall plaques.

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A Facelift on Church Street

This premises is being painted a nice cheery colour.

It has some lovely celtic strap work being painted in a contrasting shade of green.

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Memories, Memories

For many years my summer morning routine involved a walk with my husband, Jim. Here he is bowling along beside the then Super Valu in Mill Lane.

Jim loved to stop and chat. Here he is with the late Dan Browne. May they both rest in peace.

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