Memories of a great man

THREE OF A KIND?The late SeΡn Staunton is pictured with long time journalistic colleagues Billy Horan and SeΡn Rice in 2005.

Memories of a great man, whose presence was constant and inspirational

Tribute
SeΡn Rice

OUR world is a little lonelier today, a little less meaningful. Westport has lost a noble advocate, and this newspaper a staunch and cultured leader. A few years have passed since he was at the helm but even in his absence SeΡn Staunton’s presence was constant, his influence inspirational.
Head-hunted in the late eighties to edit The Mayo News which the late Joe Berry had just purchased, SeΡn Staunton lost no time in transforming the paper to his own high values and standards.
Joe Berry chose wisely. His new editor was a respected figure in the community. His civic activity and his voluntary service to the people of Westport were widely recognised. In every aspect of life he represented the town with dignity and warmth and truth, characteristics that distinguished his life.
He had been a Fianna FΡil member of the local Urban Council for some forty years. And those of us who reported those meetings are testimony to his objectivity as chairman, and the logic of his contributions from the floor. Westport was his domain and he served it loyally and unstintingly.

Man of many traits
He was magnificently eloquent and impartial, neither haughty nor condescending. He could reprimand without knowing you were being reprimanded. Character assassination was not in his nature. We marvelled at and sometimes envied ­his ability to speak off the cuff, to be articulate and cogent and measured without preparation. Yes, Fianna FΡil was in his bones, the Fianna FΡil of Lynch and Lemass, and the lubrication of his activities up to his illness was the hope that the party he served would return to the ideals espoused by those leaders.

Life friend
His spirituality was profound, but never sanctimonious. Without flaunting his faith he was committed to practical parish and diocesan affairs. But he was no Holy Joe and never afraid to challenge some of the accepted wisdoms of the Church.
He cut his journalistic teeth in the Connaught Telegraph, and the warm greeting he extended to this reporter who had come on board still resonates in the memory. His talent flowered in the portraits he filed to the paper of people and events from all round the county which he, together with photographer Liam Lyons, covered extensively.
Later, he joined the staff of the Western People, and for a year or more we shared an office in the photographic studios of Liam Lyons on Bridge Street where we encountered all shades of life, where he became the guy who got to know all about you . . . and still, it seemed, managed to be a friend.
Twice a week and more for over two years we travelled together to a diploma course in Claremorris on Community Action as part of an outreach programme by the then University College Galway. SeΡn needed no grounding in community affairs and often lecturers sought his view on civic matters in which he was so well versed.
We went our separate ways afterwards until Joe Berry called. As Managing Editor, SeΡn warmed to his new task. But he agonised in his selection of staff, and nothing for a long time pained him more than to have to inform some existing staff members that there was no room for them on his team.
Soon his personality permeated the weekly production. The paper prospered and when the time came to hand over the reins, The Mayo News was an established champion of the community’s ethos.

Memories
SeΡn was still around to help out with proof reading, and the staff drew strength from his presence, from his wisdom, his prudence, his ability to get to the root of a problem.
He fell ill twelve months ago. And although living in its shadow, death did not seem so imminent when we met in June over lunch with Liam and his archivist Carmel. He had lost much of his old vitality, the sparkle was gone, the cerebral humour, but not the lively intelligence.
You wondered why the God he had served so loyally could not have allowed him a few more years to enjoy his retirement. But then some other assignment must await him in that celestial world.
So we are left with the memories, inerasable memories of a man big in soul, big in heart, humble and talented. A man whose life was gentle, and the elements mixed so well in him that nature might stand up and say to all the world ‘This Was a Man.”
On his soul, Lord, gently lay your hand.

Elsewhere mayonews.ie
Thousands bid fond farewell to Westport’s SeΡn Staunton
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