Late Castlebar fire officer remembered

Late Castlebar fire officer remembered


Edwin McGreal
edwinmcgreal@mayonews.ie

Tributes have been paid to the late John Donegan, a retired Assistant Chief Fire Officer for Mayo who died this week in his 80s.
Mr Donegan, of Pound Road, Castlebar, died last Wednesday after a short illness. He was predeceased by his wife Peggy in 2010.
Paying tribute to Mr Donegan, Cllr Blackie Gavin, who worked in the Fire Service with him, said John Donegan was a ‘gentleman’.
“He was the salt of the earth, a true and true gentleman,” Cllr Gavin told The Mayo News. “He was loved by everyone in Castlebar and all of his colleagues in the Fire Service. He was a real perfectionist and a professional in all he did, at work and away from it.”
He originally worked as a fitter for Mayo County Council before moving to the Fire Service where he moved up the ranks to the position of Assistant Chief Fire Officer for the county. He retired in the early 90s.
His friend and one-time work colleague Noel Cunningham drove John’s well-known red Ford Fiesta behind his funeral cortege. The car had a wide variety of badges on it and was a distinctive sight around the town.
John Donegan’s funeral Mass took place in the Church of the Holy Rosary on Saturday last with burial afterwards in Castlebar new cemetery. He is survived by his son John (Dublin) and daughter Mary (Kildare).

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