Death of a proud Nenagh man

Glowing tributes have been paid to former Nenagh Independent town councillor, Joe Coleman O’ Connor, who sadly died in the prime of his life on Saturday last following a protracted illness.

Joe, who was 62, served as a member of the council from 2004 and 2009 and was highly respected and admired by officials and fellow elected members for his astute grasp of the local authority’s annual budget documents and other financial matters.

One of his great friends John Flannery, who worked with him on his election campaign in 2004, said Joe had a passion for his native town and wanted to play a role doing all he could for Nenagh. “I’d say Nenagh was one of the top things he lived for. He took huge pride in being a Nenagh man and he ran for the council purely out of love for the town. He had a great vision of how it could be developed,” John recalled.

Pride in his native town and an appreciation of how involvement in local politics could be a vehicle for change were qualities Joe did not pick up off the ground. He followed in the footsteps of his father, Joe senior, who also served for many years on the old urban council and who left an indelible mark on the town as one of the largest independent retailers operating in the State in the three decades up to the turn of the century.

SOCIAL CONSCIENCE

Even in his twenties Joe was a young man with a deep social conscience. With a group of similarly minded young people, he founded a junior chamber in the town, Nenagh Jaycees, in the mid-1980s and went on to serve on the national board and as Finance Director for Junior Chamber Ireland.

One of his early achievements with fellow Jaycee members was to establish a park in the grounds of the town castle in 1987, a splendid green area in the heart of Nenagh which continues to be enjoyed by locals and visitors alike to this day.

Joe, who had a keen accountant’s eye for figures, followed his father and brothers Rory and Donal into the supermarket business and was owner of the former Castle Hyperstore in Pearse Street for many years. He was President of the Chamber of Commerce, and Peter Ward who served with him on that body recalled a man who was “deeply committed” to preserving the traditional heart of the town in the face of stiff competition for the multiples which began opening stores on the periphery over recent decades.

“He was hugely committed socially, culturally and economically to the town and he was an excellent member of the Urban Council,” Peter recalled. “We were absolutely delighted in the chamber when he was elected to the town council because he was a voice for business.”

Joe worked in later years as the Commercial Director of Truly Irish Country Foods, a group established in 2009 to promote premium Irish food products on the home and international markets and he personally marketed food produced here in Tipperary in places like China and the Far East.

Friends described Joe as a man of deep faith and they recalled that he volunteered at national level with St Vincent de Paul.  Indeed, his faith and the support of his family and many friends sustained him over the course of the challenges of his final illness.

PASSIONATE HILL WALKER

Apart from work  Joe had a passion for hill walking, enthusiastically tackling some of the country’s highest peaks. Just like his father who was noted for his strong swimming, he loved a dip in Lough Derg, and was a keen gardener. Eamonn Coffey, a lifelong friend who first encountered Joe in Junior Infants class in Saint Mary’s Boys National School when they started there in the 1965, recalled the great times they spent together climbing mountains in adulthood, including completing the Tim Crean Endurance Challenge, a gruelling climb of Kerry’s highest peaks, and the 170kms Tour du Mont Blanc in France.

Another friend described Joe as “a great family man with a wonderful wife and three highly gifted children of whom he was very proud.”

Joe passed away peacefully in the care of the staff of Milford Care Centre, Limerick, after a long illness bravely borne with great courage, full of optimism and endless hope.

He was predeceased by his parents Joseph and Nora, and by his brother Peter. His death is deeply regretted by his loving wife Sheila, his children Matthew, Rebecca and Gavin, Rebecca's partner Conor, his brothers Rory, Donal and Michael, sisters Agnes Holmes (Celbridge), Deirdre O'Connor (Windsor), Catherine Quinn (Thurles), Celestine Ward (Galway), Elizabeth Robertson (Nenagh) and Edel Ferncombe (Thurles), brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, relatives and many great wonderful friends.

Large crowds attended the repose of his remains on Tuesday last at Ryan's Funeral Home and his Funeral Mass in Saint Mary of the Rosary Church on Wednesday. Burial was in Monsea Cemetery, Ballycommon.