Henry had the drive to succeed

Henry McGill , Springmount, Abbeyfeale and formerly of Portmagee passed away peacefully at his residence surrounded by his loving family on May 14th

Born on the 21st of April 1945 in Portmagee, in a time of few opportunities, Henry's youth was spent helping o the farm and pulling regattas with his brothers. At that time there was little tradition of second or third level education, it was simply about going to work and making a few bo. His first job was the fish factory in Rennard. Aged sixteen he went to England for two six-month campaigns harvesting sugar beet. He then left for Dublin and worked on the buildings before getting on a boat again for England in 1967. With hard work and an enterprising nature he built up a successful business in Birmingham. He meet his wife Mary at a dance in Birmingham. Mary said she wasn't good at jiving, and Henry had the jiving moves and a pioneer pin, they started to dance she soon got into Henry,s rhythm.
They got married and had their three sons Chris, Nigel and Peter.

When Chris and Nigel started going to school in Birmingham they began to come home with posh English accents. Henry said, "Pack the bags, we're going home". For a better quality of life he brought his family home to Ireland in 1978 and settled in Abbeyfeale. Why Limerick for a Kerry man has yet to be explained.
He put all his energies into developing a successful farm business, but as farmers know it's hard to provide for a family form the land so he began supplementing the farm with some construction jobs.
After combining both for two years he concentrated on construction. From the beginning of a graveyard wall to full-scale housing estate in Limerick and Kerry he was a man driven to succeed.
As a long-life supporter of the GAA, and considering the success of his eldest son Chris spearheading Fr.Casey's Country Championship victory, he became involved in local GAA. Carrying out many roles culminating in Chairman, his most difficult day came when his son lined out for Limerick against his beloved Kerry in the Munster semi-final.

He travelled the lenght and breadth of the country watching hurling and football with his friends Ted Ahern and Seany O'Connor and his wife Mary who was never far behind.
At the games he seemed to know half the stadium. Then during the game he loved having the craic and the banter, it was as good as the game itself. He never missed a All-Ireland final for forty five odd years despite never having a ticket before match day.

Latterly he took to the bike,a usual spin was home to Portmagee, a mere seventy-five miles. Regularly cycling the Ring of Kerry raising money for charity, he loved the freedom of the road.
Eventually too, he finally gave in to Mary to take up to golf, only for it to completely light him up, playing from Hawaii to Ardagh, Japan to Waterville. Many beautiful day was spent with mary and friends on the course.
Travelling widely on foreign holidays, he finally began to relax. In recent years he particularly enjoyed playing with his three grand children Fionn, Cian and Robyn.

Courtesy of The Kerry Eye
6th June 2013 Tweet

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