Passing of Mayo expat in Clare evokes trip down memory lane

It was with sadness I heard of the recent passing of Tim Murphy of Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co Clare, and formerly of Kilkelly, Mayo. He died in the kind care of the staff at Milford Hospice in Limerick.

Tim was a retired member of An Garda Siochána and spent most of his working life in Clare, apart from a time in Eyrecourt, Co Galway, in the early 1960s.

It was sometime during the mid-1980s that I first met Tim and it may have been on the occasion that I travelled down to Shannon Airport to see the legendary Big Tom and his band head over to America.

Tom, because of his fear of flying, had actually travelled on the QE2 from Southampton on his previous trip to America. However, it may also be after meeting Tim at the Mayo Association of Limerick dinner dances that I covered on a regular basis in those years.

I was working with the Connaught Telegraph at the time and Tim was based at Shannon Airport in those days, monitoring the various comings and goings that were part of that era.

Shannon was the major refueling airport for the Russian (USSR) airline, Aeroflot, during that decade as numerous Aeroflot aircraft landed and took off from Shannon on their way from Moscow and other places to Havana (Cuba) and Miami and New York.

Tim decided, as an officer of the law in Ireland, to take me on board an empty Aeroflot airliner while the crew and passengers had disembarked for refreshments and sustenance at Shannon.

It was an incredible experience to board that Aeroflot plane and walk down the aisle. I recall writing about it in the Connaught Telegraph at the time as access to USSR planes was very rare at those days.

Around four or five years later, the Cold War ended after the Malta Summit between President George Bush (Snr) and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev in 1989 with the subsequent collapse of the USSR era and the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany leading to reunification of East and West Germany.

Those trips down to Limerick for the Mayo dinner dances were always special and there was a very strong branch of the Mayo Association in Limerick in those times that also catered for members from Clare, Tipperary and North Kerry.

Tim kept in touch on a fairly regular basis down through the years including a text he sent me earlier this year. He always loved to chat about his days growing up around Kilkelly and the friends and neighbours he knew from those times.

After retiring from An Garda Siochana, Tim enjoyed many years as a driving instructor where he was so much in demand down in his adopted region of the Banner County. Many lovely tributes have been paid to this noble gentleman in recent weeks.

Aidan Byrne (formerly of Sligo) said he had known Tom since they joined An Garda Síochána in July 1961: “We became great friends through the years. Tim was a true gentleman and will be sadly missed.”

Aoife O’Leary recalled Tim’s excellent advice: “I have very fond memories of him teaching me to drive around Shannon and his advice has always stuck in my head which I now tell my daughter, ‘a car indicating is only a signal of intent and nothing more, you can’t trust an indicator’ !!”

Ann Donohue Malone, Mullinavat, Co Kilkenny, said she remembered him well in Eyrecourt as a young, glamorous Garda in the 1960’s where her dad was also stationed at the time. “Tim and my mother also had Kilkelly in common.”

Ann and David McCann, Carnakilla, Newmarket-on-Fergus, commented: “Tim always had time for a chat and, in our case, we always ended up talking about his beloved Mayo.”

Following Requiem Mass in Newmarket-on-Fergus Church, Tim was laid to rest in Lemenagh Cemetery.

Tim, who was predeceased by his grandson Andrew, his sisters Celia and Kathleen and his brothers Michael and John, will be greatly missed by his wife, Carmel, and their family, Fiona, Dermot and Emer, grandchildren Neasa, Dara, Emma, Jamie, Ben and Sam, niece, nephews, brothers and sisters-in-law, son and daughter-in-law, relations, neighbours and many friends.