Leydon, Michael
April 18, 2013The sudden, unexpected death, last weekend, of Michael Leydon, Abbeylands, Dunmore caused widespread sadness and a huge sense of loss, in his native parish in particular.
He was a member of a distinguished Dunmore family, especially well known in the world of sport, while Michael himself made a mark in many other fields: local history, amateur drama, singing, photography and film-making, writing - mainly as a regular contributor to the Tuam Herald for over 40 years - while in sport he was an acclaimed and very successful schools' athletics coach, specialising in field events.
A lifelong, totally committed and infectiously enthusiastic follower of Dunmore and Galway football teams, all over Ireland and many times abroad, across-Channel and to Gaelic Park, New York, the G.A.A. played a very big part in his life.
His older brother Seamus, holder of three All-Ireland Senior Championship medals from the glorious Three-in-a-Row era in the mid-1960s, made Michael, his brother John and their sister Mary very proud in that great decade that also brought success after success for the Dunmore MacHales in the Galway Senior Championship and County League.
Seamus and John were Hogan Cup medal winners with St Jarlath's College, Tuam; Seamus, a sprinter of distinction in schools' athletics, went on to become a senior executive with Cantrell and Cochrane (C&C). John, a missionary priest, has spent most of his adult life in the Philippines, based in the parish of Malate which has great significance for him as a Dunmore man. It was from there, in 1945 near the end of the second world war, that a cousin of the Leydon family, Fr Peter Fallon, was taken by Japanese soldiers and killed along with three other Irish priests and many local parishioners.
Mary Leydon married and settled in Ennis, Co. Clare.
Recently turned 68, Michael - who also liked to be known as Micheal O Liodain - was an outstanding Mathematics teacher at his alma mater, St Jarlath's, and he was into his fourth decade on the staff there when he retired.
He loved the stage, taking many roles in plays produced in Dunmore and Tuam, and it was interesting that his father, Willie Leydon, was a member of Dunmore Dramatic Society in the 1930s.
Michael's many friends in Dunmore, Tuam and all over Ireland, and so many abroad, many of whom were his students in the 1970s and the following two decades, were shocked and greatly saddened to hear of his death at a time in his life when he was very active, in great form and great company- recently taking a role in a Tom Murphy play performed for the Tuam 400 celebrations, while he also loved to play golf and to join his happy circle of friends on trips around Ireland cheering on the Galway football team. And even when they lost or didn't play well he always looked on the bright side... and looked forward to the next game.
One of his closest friends, Kevin O'Dwyer, enticed him out of theatrical retirement to play his final stage role, in Tom Murphy's A Crucial Week in the Life of a Grocer's Assistant.
It's now very poignant, and so sad for all who knew Micheal O Liodain, that on the closing night of the production, at the Mall Theatre, he signed a fellow cast member's programme and added his own line: "my final curtain call." It was, indeed.
Removal of his mortal remains this evening (Wednesday) 5.30 to 7.30 at Glynns' Funeral Home, Dunmore, with the funeral Mass tomorrow (Thursday) at the Church of Our Lady and St
Nicholas, Dunmore at 11.00 a.m.
Our TV critic Pat Howley writes:
I was very sorry to hear on Monday of the sudden death of my fellow Dunmore man Michael Leydon, or Micheal 0 Liodean (MOL) as he was widely known. His written words regularly graced the columns of this paper but I will remember him especially for his quick wit and skill as a mimic. We were scholars together all through what we knew as the Boys National School in Dunmore but one of my best memories of those long-gone days is from the local Green Cinema at which we dutifully attended for each Sunday matinee.
Cowboy pictures were the big attraction but occasionally there would be acute embarrassment when the hero kissed his girlfriend. It was perfectly acceptable for him to kiss his horse but even
the merest of pecks on a woman's cheek had us squirming down behind the seats to cover our mortification. That's when Leydon would come to the rescue with a one-liner in the perfectly captured throaty voice of comic western star Gabby Hayes who used to say to his horse something along the lines of "Doggone, if you ain't the most aggravatin' female I ever bought feed for." We'd all roar out our approval and Finnegan, our less than respectful reference to the cinema owner, would bring up the house lights and make his usual weekly threat to end the show. Happy days.
Others will pen more lengthy tributes and make special mention of his abiding interest in music and drama and his great contribution on and off the stage but the above is how I'll remember
Michael.
Ar dheis De go raibh a anam.
Courtesy of The Tuam Herald. Tweet
