Former Roscrea Librarian was remembered for his kindhearted and helpful nature

THE death took place in early July of the popular Tipperary librarian Gerard 'Gerry' Flannery of Clongour, Thurles, and Upper Cahir Abbey, Cahir.

A large turnout attended Gerry's funeral in Cahir, many of whom were shocked at his passing at a relatively young age.

Gerry was laid to rest in the cemetery of St Mary's Church Cahir on a beautiful, sunny day, with the magnificent Galty Mountains rising in the background. His resting place is a very appropriate spot as he loved hillwalking and spent many an enjoyable day tramping the uplands of the Galtees.

Gerry worked for seven years in Roscrea Library, from 1993 to 2000, before being transferred to Library HQ in Thurles. He worked in Thurles until his passing, spending the last ten years managing the Library service's flagship Branch Library, The Source in Thurles.

He passed away on Monday morning July 6 after a short illness, borne with great courage.

He was the longest serving staff member in Tipperary County Council's Library Service.

A statement from the Library Service said he will be greatly missed “by his friends, colleagues and the many people whose lives he touched throughout his time with us.”

“Gerry was a wonderful colleague,” said Tipperary County Librarian Damian Dullaghan, “but more importantly, he was a great friend to so many of his library colleagues as well. He worked with us for nearly 34 years, and dedicated his whole life and his whole career to librarianship and public service. He was an extremely witty person. He had a great sense of humour, a very dry sense of humour. He was very well loved by all his colleagues.”

Mr Dullaghan said three of Gerry's attributes were, firstly, he never forgot the power of reading, and of books. “We've taken on a lot of ancillary services in recent years in libraries, but Gerry never forgot that our core value is the books and reading, and that was hugely important to him.”

Secondly, continued Damian, Gerry was very proud to be a librarian and a public servant. “He was proud to be a librarian, and he was proud to work for Tipperary County Council. He believed in what he did, and that was a great position in life to be in, that he believed in what he was doing.

“And the third attribute with Gerry was he was a big believer in good customer service. He always believed in good customer service, looking after the public, and making sure they got what they needed and what they wanted, and he really believed in that, and I think he exemplified all that's good about public service.

“On a personal level, I'll miss him. I knew Gerry long before I arrived in Tipperary. I knew him when I was in Limerick. We often met up and shared advice, and worked together on different things. I've known him nearly a quarter of a century, and I'll miss him, I'll miss him terribly.”

Damian said the Library Service had been flooded with messages of condolence since Gerry's passing. “We've been bowled over by the amount of comments that there have been about him,” continued Damian, “and all the good things he did, things that we didn't know, just things he did every day, but yet at the same time, they were very important to those receiving them, the help, you know, and that was what made Gerry great, that he would do it unassumingly; he was very unassuming in a way.”

One artist, paying tribute to Gerry following his passing, remembered how he had supported and encouraged them on their very first exhibition. “I remember being hesitant of selling one of my illustrations at €500. I remember telling you the price I was considering charging and you said to me immediately, 'Don't undersell yourself'. I was shocked and complimented big time that you thought I should have been charging even more! This same illustration sold. You brought me over to the kids book section in the library and showed me names of various children’s book illustrators, in attempts to encourage me to consider illustrating a children’s book one day. You believed in my art more than I did at the time. Gerry said plenty of other kind hearted words throughout the month of my exhibition. I certainly won’t forget you, until we meet again.”

Personally speaking, I shared Gerry’s love for hill walking and I got to know him well when he was working in Roscrea Library. Often accompanied by other friends we tramped over many of Ireland’s mountains over a period of several years. We were young, fit and enthusiastic and some of our days in the mountains were long and exhausting! After the walks we liked to relax over a pint and reminisce about the day’s experiences and also plan future outings. As Damian Dullaghan said, Gerry had a great sense of humour and his wit often enlivened our get togethers. We also went on hillwalking holidays abroad, including a winter ascent of the highest mountain in North Africa, Mount Toubkal, and two very enjoyable weeks in the Tatra Mountains of Slovakia. Sadly, when Gerry’s place of work moved from Roscrea to Thurles our lives diverged and I rarely saw him after that.

Gerry was predeceased by his father Con. He is very sadly missed by his loving mother Mary, sister Sarah, her husband Andy and niece Katherine, sisters, Shadi, Sheva, Sheenaz and their partners, uncle Joe (Codd) and his wife Maureen, extended family, work colleagues and his many friends.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.