Death of Gerry O’Neill
A young Kevin Hughes, left, and Gerry O'Neill INTT3112-809X
One sunny afternoon, probably about two years ago if memory serves me right, my phone rang and the office receptionist said there was a gentleman who wished to speak with me at the front desk. I went down and it was Altmore Drive resident Gerry O’Neill, a fine unassuming man I’d know for what seems like my whole life.
We shook hands and chatted for a minute or two before he told me the reason for his visit. He showed me a book on how to play snooker and he said that, since he no longer had any need for it, he would like me to pass it on to someone who would benefit from the tips within its covers. I gratefully accepted and duly passed it on a couple of weeks later.
That little gesture was the first thing that popped into my head when I got the news that Gerry had passed away last Thursday and it again brought a smile to my face when Father White, in his homily at the Requiem Mass on Saturday morning, related a similar tale to the sizeable congregation in St.Patrick’s Church, Dungannon.
The local curate told how Gerry had donated his trusty old cue to St.Patrick’s Hall when he decided he would not be participating anymore in the sport that gave him so much enjoyment throughout his life, whether it was playing with a fair measure of distinction for INF teams in the old East Tyrone League or watching the professionals on television.
That was the kind of man Gerry was throughout his 82 years in which he was a modest family man who always worked hard, as an electrician, in the old Glass Fabrics in Beechvalley, Goodyear in Craigavon, later in his own bakery business halfway down Church Street or around the home he shared with his beloved wife Marie, who sadly died 25 years ago.
I would regularly meet Gerry about the town, but usually in the vicinty of the Oaks Centre and, indeed, I momentarily spoke with him there just a couple of weeks ago. He took ill last week and died suddenly on Thursday in Craigavon Hospital.
Their son Conn having passed away about a year after Marie, the grieving children are Gerard, Fiona and Colette.
Gerry is also survived by his sisters, Una Harte and Imelda Flood, as well as a number of sorrowing grandchildren - to all of whom I offer sincere sympathy on their great loss.
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Weather for Dungannon
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 4 C to 12 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 4 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: North
