The late Liam O’Connor of Kilworth and Fermoy
The funeral of Liam O’Connor, late of Lower Main Street, Kilworth took place in London last Friday. Born in 1922 and one of a family of ten, only recently he celebrated his 91st birthday. He was a member of a well-known and respected Kilworth family of fowl merchants. His father had captained Kilworth footballers in the 1890s and had gone on to play for the celebrated Fermoy side that reached the All-Ireland at the end of that decade.
Only last Christmas, as part of our special edition, The Avondhu featured Liam and his promising young grandson, Jack who has signed for Crystal Palace F.C. on a four-year contract at the tender age of twelve. While playing for Crystal Palace youngsters, he will attend the celebrated Whitfgift School in Surrey on a sports scholarship and it is confidently expected by people who have seen him in action that he will feature on an Ireland team in the coming years.
Liam worked in the bakery business with his brother, Fr Jack for a number of years and became well known to a great number of customers in the Fermoy area on his delivery rounds before eventually emigrating to Canada in the late 1940s with his new wife Joan (nee Burns) of Conna. Heeding the call of home some years later, he returned to support his brother in building up Patrick O’Connor Motors in Patrick Street, Fermoy. Here he became the well-recognised figure with the white coat who oversaw the smooth running of what ultimately became a highly successful Morris dealership.
Celebrated by those who knew him for his encyclopaedic grasp for figures, he could reel off the make of any car, its colour and even its number up to virtually his last months. It was a unique gift that was accompanied by a facility to remember names and faces reaching back many decades. An avid reader of The Avondhu, only last year he described it as ‘manna from heaven’ to his nephew, Pat who ensured that he had his valued connection with the old scene of Fermoy and Kilworth on a regular basis.
He is survived by his wife, Joan, and his family of five sons and one daughter to who we extend our sincere sympathy.
Published:
Thursday 2nd May 6:26pm
