The death has occurred of Tom Greaney, (76) of Knocknagoshel Village, Tralee, Co. Kerry. Peacefully at University Hospital Kerry. Tom will be sadly missed by his loving wife Kathy, sons Mike, John, Thomas and Pa, daughters Anne, Liz, and Mag, brothers Seán (Liscarroll), Michael (London), Donal (Kilcummin), sisters Kathleen Brosnan (Kanturk), Mary Culhane, (Moyvane), Teresa Murphy (Kilmichael) and Betty O’Sullivan (Castleisland), daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, relatives and friends.
As a young apprentice carpenter I worked with Tom and his father Mick on various houses in Castleisland and in Tralee. They were never anything short of gentlemen for a young lad to learn from or to be around.
During the booming building trade of the early to mid 1970s we also encountered the Firies based stone-masons, the Horgans. They were working on a neighbouring house on a new estate in Oakpark in Tralee.
It was a habit back then to put up a loose store-house of blocks on-the-flat and corrugated iron to keep bags of cement and lime dry and to stop traps from being stolen.
In one of the houses they were working on, the Horgans took up a gable wall over six feet high and it was ready-made for handball by lunchtime.
Tom Greaney was an active participant and diligent scorekeeper in our brief, daily games. Years later I would meet him regularly as he called the shots at the annual Knocknagoshel Pattern Day Sports.
He was generous with his time and his considerable talent as a tradesman and teacher to the aspiring.
He wouldn’t delay in demonstrating a cut or something more intricate in the sparse surroundings of a building site. May God be good to him.
Funeral Arrangements
Reposing at Leahy’s Funeral Home, Knocknagoshel Thursday evening from 6pm to 8pm. Requiem Mass will take place for Tom on Friday in St. Mary’s Church, Knocknagoshel at 12 noon. Burial afterwards in Knockane Cemetery, Knocknagoshel. May he Rest in Peace
Date Published: Tuesday 10th May 2016. Date of Death: Tuesday 10th May 201
