GAA Honours Joseph P. Ryan
at a moving ceremony in Cranbrook, B.C.
 |
|
AT THE GRAVESITE: John O’Flynn, Rúnaí, Canadian County Board GAA with Brian Farmer, president of the Canadian Gaelic Athletic Association.
|
 |
|
PLAQUE honouring Joseph Patrick Ryan, a founding member of the Cumann Lúthchleas Gael in Thurles, Tipperary, Ireland in 1884.
|
By JOHN O’FLYNN
VANCOUVER – Ninety-one years after his death, Joseph Patrick Ryan was honoured on December 19 as one of the original founders of the Cumann Lúthchleas Gael – the greatest amateur sporting organization in the world – by the Canadian County Board GAA
A son of Ireland who greatly contributed to the early development of both Cranbrook and British Columbia, Ryan was remembered at a beautiful and moving mass in St. Mary's Church with Father Harry Clarke celebrating.
Following the mass, Brian Farmer, the president of the Canadian Gaelic Athletic Association, spoke passionately about the role of the GAA and the importance to Canada for which one of the founders would be forever remembered.
The North American Board (GAA) was represented by Eamonn Kelly (PRO) of Chicago. Many Irish Canadians from the Cranbrook area were also on hand with representation from a number of counties including Antrim, Armagh, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Derry, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Limerick, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Sligo, Tipperary, and Westmeath.
As the last event of the GAA’s 125th anniversary year, members from Ireland, Seattle, Vancouver, Red Deer, and Toronto gathered to honour the seventh founding member who was present at the meeting in Hayes Hotel in Thurles, Tipperary on November 1, 1884.
Wreath laying ceremonies conducted at Ryan's grave included Brian Farmer; Eamonn Kelly; John Keane, the Honorary Irish Consul in Seattle; Paul McGarry of the Seattle Gaels; and Scott Manjak, the Mayor of Cranbrook.
Flags representing Ireland, Canada, the United States and British Columbia, along with the
GAA's 125th anniversary flag surrounded the gravesite.
During the ceremony three national anthems were sung with due dignity. A brass plaque was attached to the grave to mark the events of this auspicious day for the GAA in Canada and to acknowledge the place of J.P. Ryan in GAA history.
Terry and Hilary Segarty who organized the day at the local level along with the Knights of Columbus, who are celebrating 125 years in Cranbrook. They acted as honour guards throughout the ceremonies as Ryan was a former Grand Knight in the area.
An editorial published in The Cranbrook Herald read, “a gloom was cast over the city” when his death was reported and said “Judge Ryan possessed fluency of language to an unusual degree...his Irish brogue and wit will long be remembered.”
Ryan who was born in Carrick-on-Suir, Tipperary, in April 1857 was a solicitor in Ireland before emigrating to Canada in 1899.
He become involved in the life of British Columbia with the Board of Trade and the mining industry. He was a judiciary member and a prominent journalist.
In a memoir on Ryan's life, his grandson-in-law Alf MacLochlainn described him as “a voluble, articulate, life-of-the-party” person during the years he lived in Canada.
This commemoration was our opportunity to honour and say thanks to a great man whose vision and contribution to both the people of the GAA and the people of Cranbrook, B.C. is finally acknowledged.
|
