The death has occurred of Moss Curtin, Meinleitrim, Knocknagoshel and formerly of 6 College Road, Castleisland, Co. Kerry.
Peacefully on August 13th 2022 in the presence of his loving family, in the wonderful care of the Palliative Care Team at University Hospital Kerry.
Sadly missed and fondly remembered by his loving sisters: Maureen, Sheila and Noreen, brothers-in-law Paddy and Denis, niece Mary, nephew Ciarán, all extended family, relatives, neighbours and a large circle of friends.
May His Gentle Soul Rest In Peace.
Rushes and Low Hanging Branches
Moss began his working life with my father in the souvenir workshop in Knocknagore in the early 1960s and we hunted through the neighbouring fields, with a bushman, knives and ropes, for the raw materials for the produce of the workshop especially in the months and weeks leading up to Christmas.
Rushes for the roofs of cribs and low hanging branches for Christmas candles. We ferried tea chests packed with little Irish cottages, sugán chairs and woven baskets / pin cushions to the post office or to the train station on our home-made hand-cart made from bits recycled from Johnny McSweeney’s builders yard on Killarney Road.
Saving Hay With Leanes
We were sent out to save the hay with our neighbours the Leanes – a kind of unspoken, unwritten payment for our winter-time looting – and we footed turf in Mick Cremins’s bog in Tulligubeen.
We hunted and fished and played football and hurling in the acre surrounding the house and delighted each summer when the hay was cut off it and saved.
And then Tadhg McGillicuddy, during a summer in the workshop, historically introduced golf to Knocknagore and three multi-purpose clubs were made in the workshop. I spent a lot of time in Leane’s field looking for balls after wayward strokes by Moss and my father in spite of Tadhg’s coaching.
Con Houlihan’s Mention of Moss
One of my outstanding memories of Moss involves a piece written in The Kerryman by Con Houlihan on a rugby match in Castleisland in which Con himself played.
In his summing up of the game Con knocked a use out of the old Irish proverb, Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí as he mentioned those who did well in the previous Sunday’s game.
It must have been on a Friday morning in the mid 1960s and I was on my way to school. As I turned onto Tralee Road I became aware of Moss heading on for our neighbours Murphy’s.
And the Youthful Moss Curtin
As we drew closer, he began to go through The Kerryman and he laid it, in all its broadsheet glory on the hard frosted road and he drew my attention to the last line of Con’s match report.
“And the youthful Moss Curtin,” Con had appended to his report in praise of the gallant efforts of his team-mates on that day.
For my sisters Ellen and Kath and brother Hine / Hugh Martin, Moss will be forever youthful in our thoughts as he minded us when our parents were out for days at family occasions and we were mad about him.
There were many other chapters to Moss’s 75 year old life. He worked for a while with Genie McGillicuddy and for Charlie Lenihan’s butcher’s shop and he spent the most of a quarter of a century in the Castleisland Fire Brigade. May God be good to him.
Moss’s Funeral Arrangements
Reposing at Tangney’s Funeral Home, Church Street, Castleisland, on Sunday evening from 6pm to 8pm.
Removal from his residence in Meinleitrim on Monday morning arriving to Castelisland Parish Church for Requiem Mass at 11.30am. The Mass will be live-streamed on www.churchservices.tv/castleisland
Burial afterwards in St. John’s Cemetery Castleisland. Donations to Palliative Care / Kerry Hospice c/o Tangney’s Funeral Home.
Date Published: Saturday 13th August 2022. Date of Death: Saturday 13th August 2022
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