Respected mart man from Puckane dies

The death has occurred of a Nenagh Mart employee who was well-known and highly respected by farmers from all over North Tipperary.

Martin Gleeson, from Petersfield, Puckane, gave over a half a century working in Nenagh Mart before he retired in August 2019.

Martin started his job in the mart in the 1960s before the coming of heavy motorised traffic. One of his duties in the early years was to walk cattle from the mart via Stafford Street and Kenyon Street to the railway station for shipment abroad and to other parts of the country.

Martin witnessed dramatic changes in the farming community over his long career. The number of small farming enterprises declined radically and the country became much more industrialised and entered the high-tech age.

Martin began working in the mart in July 1969 and ultimately moved from his drover’s role when promoted to the clerical staff.

He went on to be a constant presence in the heifer sales ring where he recorded the names of buyers, the weights of cattle and the prices paid for them.

In an interview with this newspaper to mark his retirement just over five years ago, Martin recalled some of the very tough times in farming.

“In 1974 when there was a recession in the country I recorded a beast that sold for just 50 pence,” he said back then.

However, there were prosperous times too, and Martin also related a story of witnessing a ram being sold for €44,000 in the mart in 2014.

GREAT MEMORIES

The friendly and highly regarded Puckane man had great memories of huge sales days in the 1970s when cattle began to arrive at dawn when the weekly Tuesday cattle mart operations were at their peak.

Such was the volume of cattle arriving that he would have to report regularly for work as early as 6am and would not finish until the sales were over as late as 11.30pm.

As he recalled himself, Martin spent such a long time working in the mart that he ended up knowing three generations of farmers and cattle dealers that went through its gates to do their business.

One would think that after over a half of century of such dedication that he would have been looking forward to his retirement in 2019.

However, he told this newspaper back then: “I will miss it because I had great friends working in there, and we had a great rapport.”

Martin, who passed away peacefully on December 10, will be sadly missed by his loving family, sister Marian, brothers Pat, Michael, John, Noel and Donal, brother-in-law Brendan, sisters-in-law Betty, Christine and Marcella, nieces, nephews, cousins, relatives, neighbours and a large circle of friends.

Following his Funeral Mass in Saint Patrick’s Church, Puckane, on Friday week last, internment was in Cloughprior Cemetery.

May he Rest in Peace.