A Tribute to a Fine Gentleman and a Scholar
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DENIS WALSH
(1919-2008)
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By MIKE QUIRKE
On February 22, we lost a great man from the village of Asdee in the Kingdom of Kerry. Denis Walsh was born in that beautiful little village close to Ballylongford in 1919, and in his 88 years he touched the lives of many people.
Denis started out playing football in Asdee and played for Kerry for several years, as did his brother Jack. Jack won (6) All-Ireland medals; Denis coming later won a Munster and played with some of the greats of Kerry Football, his neighbour Johnny Walsh, Paddy Bawn Brosnan and many others he loved to tell stories about.
He also played for the Shannon Rangers, notably in the finals in 1942 and 1945. In 1945 he was brought back to Ireland from England to play. He liked to tell that he was granted special permission to leave England for a weekend (after receiving a telegram requesting his return to attend to a family emergency). He played the game which ended in a draw and had to stay on an extra week to participate in the replay. He won the match but lost his job - a fair exchange according to Denis.
Before I emigrated to Canada, I remember going to north Kerry to play football against "those guys" from Asdee/Ballylongford. I didn't particularly look forward to it mainly because we seldom beat them.
They always seemed to have a lot of county players, and with names like Walsh, it made for a deadly combination. Football was their religion. There are more All-Ireland medals in that small area than any other place in Ireland.
After the match played in the Jack Walsh memorial park (beautiful pitch) we'd get invited down to Walsh's "The Store," Denis's home place, which (was then) owned by another of Denis's brothers and his son Mike, where they'd give us a pint and a few sandwiches for the road home. I always suspected that was just a ploy to make sure we came back the next time.
Years later, on a trip home from Canada, I visited "The Store" with Denis. I found that "those guys," as we used to call them were actually the most hospitable people one could wish to meet anywhere. Not only did they invite me to stay, but I had trouble leaving.
Walsh's "The Store" was an old-style pub where you could get a great pint on one side and buy anything from a slab of salty bacon to a roll of barbed wire on the other. Every night, the big open bar would have set dancing, singing, card playing and great football stories from olden days.
Denis, of course, was at the head of the table. One story I heard from a Dub was about two Dubliners going down to Ballybunion for the holidays who stopped at Walsh's for a few drinks. During the course of the evening the till ran out of change. The barman, not missing a beat, switched to a large jar behind the bar and handed out All-Ireland medals for change. Socko Byrne swears that's true!
Some years back, Denis and I decided to go home at the same time and said we'd meet over there. A few days later, when walking down the street in Cahirciveen, a Ford Escort pulled up beside me and there was Denis after driving all the way down from Asdee.
He wanted to tour South Kerry. I took him to see Mick O'Connell, Mick O'Dwyer's Hotel, showed him Jack O'Shea's house, Daniel O'Connell's birthplace and a few more sights.
Denis was like a sponge for knowledge and loved the local history. But it was at night that he really shone. He told great stories and sang songs every night. His memory for names, dates and words of songs was amazing.
People still ask me about that "fine gentleman from Asdee" when I go home. As usual, Denis left a lasting impression on them as he has with everyone whose life he touched.
Denis left home for England at 23 years of age and his first job was progress clerk and paymaster for Manchester Tool and Die. He then became a teaching assistant at an approved school in Nantwich and enjoyed the environment so much that he decided to go back to school to become a teacher like his father, who was schoolmaster at Beale three miles from Walsh's "The Store."
His teaching career began at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Salford where he met the headmistress Miss Gray whom he admired greatly and who had a profound effect on him as a teacher and as a person.
Denis taught in many schools throughout England and was deputy headmaster of Greenfield House Approved School when he decided to move to Canada in 1966. Denis continued teaching throughout Alberta becoming principal in Perryvale, Grimshaw and Buffalo Coulee schools.
He moved to Ponoka in 1970 where he established a school for the youth at the Ponoka Psychiatric Hospital. The school started with one teacher and 33 students who were residents in the hospital.
It grew to five teachers and opened its doors to young people who were learning English as a second language and those from the town schools who were experiencing behavioral and/or emotional difficulties. It may have been the first outreach-type school in Alberta and is still going today. As always, Denis was ahead of his time.
He remained in Ponoka until his retirement (in 1983) when he moved to Edmonton; I suspect just to be closer to the Irish Club where he enjoyed his weekly visit to watch football, listen to Irish music, and enjoy his favourite beverage, Jimmy & water. He never missed a folk fest and had a special spot every year beside the main stage to listen to his favourite Irish groups.
Denis was an educator, a sportsman, a fluent Gaelic speaker, an advisor, a counselor, and a very compassionate man. He loved everything Irish: the Irish language, music, history, literature and of course, Gaelic football, and he loved passing his great knowledge on to others.
An elder statesman of the Edmonton Irish Society, he was chairman of the board of the "K.G.B." (the Kerry Good Boys in Edmonton). He will be sorely missed.
I started out saying we lost Denis, but we didn't really. We only traded him. He went from his beloved Kingdom here to that great Kingdom in the sky. He is now playing for a better team. An All-Star award is assured. Ar dheis dé go raibh a anam dilis.
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