The Eulogy

When asked by Christy’s daughters if I had any stories I could tell about Christy’s life I said I had plenty but none suitable for church. So I have recalled some specific memories of our childhood together.

There was 7 of us in family

6 of us brought up on a small farm in County Galway in the west of Ireland.

The 4 oldest born close together Mary Nonnie and twins Paddy and Tommy

Then a 7 year gap and Christy was born and seemingly meant to be the last and therefore the youngest.

However 7 years later along came myself and rained on that parade

I was told growing up that Christy was not too impressed with my arrival, not only was Christy now not the youngest but he had a baby sister not a baby brother that he could play hurling and football with.

Having said that as older siblings went to work and left home Christy was great company for me,

Not sure how great it was for Christy Having to entertain his pesky little sister.

However Christy managed this situation quite well for instance like all small children I loved to play hide and seek and would frequently persuade Christy to play. All would go well until no matter how hard I looked for Christy, he could not be found. Christy would obviously have got bored playing. So while I was hiding Christy would have slipped out the back door and gone a ¼ of a mile away to visit our neighbours. THE SAYING ELVIS AK CHRISTY has left the building comes to mind.

Christy did save my life once

To the side of our house was a paddock area by a river and in front of cow sheds. One day Christy called me into the paddock to help him get a baby calve into the cow shed.

Job done, I wandered off towards the river when from further down the paddock our young horse not yet broken in and very wild came charging after me, I ran as fast as I could and even faster when I looked behind and the horse’s hoofs were above me Christy kicked into protection mode and threw anything he could get his hands on at the horse luckily for me Christy managed to frighten the horse away. It is because of Christ’s presence of mind I am able to be here today, sadly it’s to say good bye to my Hero Christy.

In the same paddock sitting beside Christy on the river bank on a much less eventful day Christy decided at the ripe old age of 6 it was time I learned to smoke

NOT ‘SWEET AFTON’ NOT ‘CAROLLS NUMBER ONE’ NOT ‘BENSON AND HEDGES’

NO none of the above Christy was teaching me how to smoke ‘BULL RUSHES’ that were growing by the river. Christy would light up a bull rush and tell be to ‘put it between my lips and inhale’ I was not a natural and did a lot of coughing and spluttering. In any case the smoking lesson

ended when my dad came round the corner rushing towards us bellowing at us at the top of his voice. Christy took flight to the ever trusted neighbours the Griffins. I was sent to bed early and my smoking habit paused before I had time to get any reasonable practice.

Christy loved hurling and spent many happy hours in that very same paddock with his friends and cousins J.J and Patsy Murray. I love watching the hurling sheering for Christy when he scored a goal between two jumpers or coast on the ground as their goal posts. After the game they would all gather in the house by the fire chatting and every so often Patsy Murry would play a tune on the flute, such delightful memories.

CARS were not very plentiful in Rural Ireland in the 50’s but my parents had a dear friend called Martin Curley that owned a ‘Morris Minor’ Martin would give us lifts to mass on wet Sundays or to doctors appointment when needed. One Sunday after mass Mum was making breakfast for us all including Martin Curley but she was running out of spring water for the tea so she sent Christy to the well which was about 1\3 of a mile away. Christy picked up 2 buckets and headed out the back door. A few minutes later Martin curly went to get something out of car only to find the car was not there. Without ever having a driving lesson Christy decided to drive the car to the well. Needless to say there was panic in the house but much relief when Christy and car returned safe return and sound. We did not realise at the time but It was a strength that we came to realise Christy possessed when it came to cars and other vehicles that was to hold him in good stead in his working life.

Christy loved to help out on the farm but his favourite time was fair days, one in Loughrea in February and one in Athenry in October . For these events Christy at a very young age had no problem getting up at 2am in the morning he would get flash lamps ready and go with dad and other local farmers to drove cattle 8 miles if it was Loughrea and 14 if it was Athenry. Of course the added bonus was having those days off school.

Christy was only just gone 15 when he left home and came to the UK needless to say he left a big gap in our lives.

Although still very young Christy did well in getting himself work on building sites Whilst on a building site Christy made the observation that he could have better earning power if he was able to get a job operating cranes. I was told by his daughter Jane that while on a lunch break Christy asked the crane operator to show him how to operate the crane. That was all Christy needed, his strength of learning fast meant that he could get well paid jobs operating cranes which he did for most of his working life.

Christy’s skills with Machinary was much sought after across England. He became well known and liked and fondly known as blondie Chris.

Christy was a true gentle soul, always non-judgemental with a helping hand always outstretched for those that needed help, supporting and defending loved ones like a Lion

Thank you for all your kindness always to our children particularly Rebecca

The legacy of your good nature Christy is evident in your family

Thank you for the gift of Jean, beautiful nieces, nephews, granddaughter, grandsons, and great grandson.

Also thank you for bringing Kath and all her beautiful family into our lives.

Thank you most of all for all the time we shared making memories together in your home, mine and Jim’s home, Mary and Joes’s home in Ireland and with Nonnie in America. We are all so grateful for the fun and laughter we had together, the entertaining stories you told that left us crying with laughter. We will continue to laught together and indeed laugh out loud on our own when one of your stories suddenly comes into our mind

Good bye Beautiful brother may god hold you in his arms and we will always hold you in our Hearts.

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