John Coleman

JOHN Coleman, Carramore, Hollymount, who died recently, was a well known farmer and cattle dealer in former times. He was aged 80 and was a man with a vast knowledge of country living and rural life.

One of a family of ten, John grew up in an era when the people of Ireland were very much in touch with the soil. The entire ethos of the country was agricultural in nature and that brought with it an age-old patience and pace that has always been associated with people of the land.

It was a wisdom nicely reflected upon by the American writer and philosopher, Ralph Emerson, when he once said: “The farmer times himself to Nature, and acquires that lifelong patience which belongs to her.”

John Coleman’s generation knew this truth very well. From his earliest years, he was steeped in the culture and traditions of the land. Walking to fairs in Ballinrobe and other places through the dark hours of a winter’s night before morning began to break the eastern skyline were familiar ventures for him.

For several years, John was a highly-respected cattle dealer around this region of south Mayo. He was renowned as an excellent judge of stock and this was a talent he retained all through the years. It was an instinctive knowledge gleaned from years of experience. He was especially respected for his sense of decency and fairness in the trade and he had the trust and goodwill of so many farmers all down the years. Even up to the end, people would enquire about his well-being when they met family members out and about.

Like so many of his generation, his first love was the fairs and he never really warmed to the marts. He rightly maintained that there had always been far more inter-action at the fairs, with all the bargaining, the give and take, and the mixing of people from so many areas and parts of the country. Much of this disappeared with the advent of the marts.

John was a firm believer in self-sufficiency for people who came from rural Ireland. He loved to cultivate his own crops and vegetables, always attaining an excellent standard. An industrious and progressive farmer, he brought his expertise to bear in various other aspects of the farming scene after he opted out of the cattle dealing business many years ago.

His generation witnessed huge changes from the days of manual work on the farm to the introduction of machinery, the arrival of the rural electrification scheme and all the changes that it brought about, and a whole array of other inventions such as the mobile phone and the internet, local radio, Knock Airport and so much more. No generation is ever likely to witness such sweeping changes again.

John was a devoted family man and they were always at the heart of his life. He married Frances O’Brien from Dunmore and they raised a family of three, two sons and a daughter. In more recent times, he enjoyed the great company of his two grandchildren and delighted in having them around him.

Removal took place from St Joseph’s Funeral Home, Ballinrobe to Roundfort Church with burial in the local cemetery following Requiem Mass celebrated by Fr Michael Gormley, Ballinrobe, assisted by Fr Michael Molloy, PP.

John is survived by his wife Frances, sons Michael and Sean, daughter Maura, son-in-law Cathal O‘Malley, Michael’s partner, Mary, grandchildren Jessica and Rebecca O’Malley, brothers Jimmy and Eamon (London) and sisters Eileen (Bray) and Sr Teresa (Kent), sister-in-law Bride Coleman, nephews, nieces, relatives, neighbours and friends. - MC