Mr. John Bernard Gallagher (Benny)

Editorial Department • Published 15 Jul 2010 16:00 0 Comments

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Mr. Benny Gallagher's unexpected death took place at his family home in Fivemiletown on Thursday, June 3, 2010, where he lived with his wife Anne and daughter Fiona. Sadly, he passed away on his 32nd wedding anniversary.

Although he developed cardiac problems a week earlier, his death was unexpected and caused great shock to his family and the entire community. The esteem in which he was held was manifest in the large attendance of relatives, friends, and former work colleagues who attended his wake and funeral service.

Benny was a steel fitter and a farmer, and in his younger days played gaelic football for the Brookeborough Heber McMahon's football club for whom he won medals at different levels. The esteem in which local footballers held him was evidenced by the guard of honour that they arranged for his remains on the morning of his funeral in St. Joseph's Chapel, Coonian.

Benny was born in 1943 as the second child of Tommy and Mary Gallagher. Although christened John Bernard, he was known all his life by the name of Benny. He had an elder brother Tommy and a younger sister Maureen, as well as another brother (Tommy's twin) who died in England during the Second World War. As a child, Benny studied at Tyreghan School and could have gone further with his education but after finishing school learned his trade instead.

Following the completion of his apprenticeship, Benny worked with a number of firms including some time spent in Belfast. Among the firms that he worked for over the years were McAleer & Teague from County Tyrone and Tracey's from Fermanagh.

Benny married Anne McGeehan on June 3, 1978 in St. Joseph's Chapel and they had two children, Aileen and Fiona. He and Anne enjoyed travelling around Ireland, listening to Irish music.

Benny also helped out his father with the farming over the years and then took over the farm himself in 1981. As a hard worker and a highly sociable man, Benny had a lifelong interest in farming, and gardening, and working around the house. He did most of the work himself when he built his own bungalow in the middle 1980's, on a hill overlooking the home where he was born in Foglish, where he lived until his death.

Benny also held a passionate interest in Irish affairs all his life and was a huge fan of the G.A.A., particularly at inter county level. He regularly attended Ulster championship matches, especially through the seventies and eighties when the Fermanagh/Monaghan border roads had been closed.

Benny's great interest in gaelic football gave him a very strong common bond to his brothers-in-law, Thomas and Sean McGeehan, and many days and nights were spent discussing the fate of the Fermanagh and Brookeborough teams who shared similar experiences of fighting heroically over the years but often narrowly missing out on the big prizes.

One of Benny's greatest dreams would have been to see Fermanagh winning the Ulster Championship and he watched his team narrowly miss out on it firstly in 1982, and then in 2008, on the very day after his daughter Aileen's wedding to Connor Curran, the son of Collie and Ann Curran from Lisnaskea. Despite the good humoured banter that comes from a Lisnaskea-Brookeborough GAA marriage, it gave Benny great pride to see his daughter marry into a family with such impeccable credentials in all domains of the sporting community in Co. Fermanagh. The wedding of Connor and Aileen took place in July 2008, on the day before the drawn match in the Ulster final between Armagh and Fermanagh. That was one of the best weekends of Benny's life alongside his own wedding and the birth of his two daughters Aileen and Fiona, and then his two grandsons Tiarnan and Cullen Curran.

Aside from an interest in sport and politics, Benny always kept dogs, and sometimes pheasants. In more recent times, prior to his death, he created a mini-farm for his grandchildren Tiarnan and Cullen where he kept a range of animals and birds, including horses, poultry, a rabbit and a guinea pig. The children were very fond of this and many happy hours were spent with their grandfather looking after the farm and the animals. Benny was a very proud grandfather and loved to joke with his grandson Tiarnan about growing up to support Brookeborough rather than 'Skea.

In recent times Benny had retired and his sporting activities were restricted to games of bingo, in various places around the county, and the occasional fishing trip. He never lost any of his enthusiasm, gregariousness, or competitiveness though, and loved nothing more than the chance to win at bingo or catch a fish. He had achieved both in recent times before his sudden death and, in his spare time, used his craftsman's skills to build a wall around the new home of his sister Maureen and her husband Eugene, with whom Benny often used to socialise in The Tanyard Tavern in Fivemiletown, or at bingo in Brookeborough and at the seaside in Bundoran.

His highly sociable presence will be missed in the community and his great care and attention to family will never be forgotten by his wife, daughters, son-in-law, and entire family circle. He was predeceased by his elder brother, Tommy in 2005.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 15 Jul 10

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