Kevin 'the Tailor' (the family nickname a nod to the trade of his father and his brothers Frank and Harry) Mac Cann, a well-known character in the Trillick area, died on July 27, 2013, a few hours short of his 92nd birthday.

The youngest child of Paul and Catherine Mac Cann (nee McGurren), Kevin was born in Litfer on Thursday, July 28,1921. He was pre-deceased by his sisters Moira (Mrs. Coyle, Belleek) and Peggy (Mrs. Murphy, Cloncandra) and by his brothers Paul, Harry, Frank and Gerald.

Kevin attended Grannan school until age 14, and like his brother Gerald, won a scholarship to further education. (While Kevin was always a keen reader, with an ability to consume lengthy historical novels at one sitting, at school he spent as much time getting up to mischief as he did at his books. When alocal farmer left a cart-load of turf at the school, all the senior pupils would be tasked with carrying in the turf by hand. To pro- long the disruption, as fast as the other children were carrying the turf in, Kevin and his good childhood friend, Matt Conlin, were equally busy carrying them back out again.) Kevin had his own ideas about the sought-after scholarship, and on the day he was to travel to board in at Omagh CBS, Kevin shoved his luggage and school bag into a hedge and walked to his uncle-in-law Pat McCarron's farm in Kilnock to learn how to plough with horses instead. Kevin was an expert ploughman with either horse or tractor, and his brother Gerald recalled how, when Kevin and he took a year out to go travelling around Southern Europe in the early 1950s, on seeing a man struggling to plough with an ox in Southern Spain, Kevin jumped over the fence and took the reins from the initially-startled local and completed a few scores for him.

The early scholarship incident revealed much about Kevin. Kevin loved living in Trillick, among his own kind of people, and more money, status and pos- sessions, which was all that further education would lead to, never were priorities. Years later, Pat McCarron offered to give his farm in Kilnock to Kevin, but Kevin politely declined the generous offer.

Kevin was a charismatic and light-hearted man, with a sharp wit, a ready smile and an ability to read people and to get on like a house on fire with people of all ages and backgrounds. Throughout his long life, invariably he put a smile on the faces of all who met him. The droll retort came very easily to him. At his funeral Mass, Fr McKenna recounted how, a couple of years ago, there was a problem with the microphone in Trillick chapel and the man sitting be- side Kevin asked: "What's the priest saying anyway?" Without missing a beat, Kevin deadpanned back that: "He says it's a waste of time planting turnips in
October".
Kevin was for many years a professional musician with the Moonlight Dance Band, along with his brothers Harry and Frank, and, from Dromore, Una and Donal McElhohn, Frank and Jack McCann, Fergus Hughes and others. Kevin played a variety of instruments but was particularly noted for his prowess on the five-row button accordion and the electric bass guitar. Kevin adjudicated on the accordion competitions at early All-Ireland fleadhanna (when asked was adjudicating difficult, he said it was very easy if Joe Burke was competing). He enjoyed nothing better than heading off every year for a couple of weeks' craic in Kerry with regular musical travelling companions Tom Tolan, Patsy McAloon, his cousin and name-sake Dr Kevin McCann from Newfoundland and Mike Kelly, playing music, drinking and bantering with Kerry legends like Joe Keohane about Cavan and Down football (Tyrone hadn't done much at all Ireland level in those days).

Kevin's favourite singer was the radical African-American bass-baritone Paul Robeson and his favourite musician was his good friend and accomplice in many a good week's craic, Belfast fiddle legend Sean McGuire in his later years, Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann presented Kevin with an award in recognition of a lifetime's "service and dedication to the promotion of Ireland's native culture".

If there was a serious side to Kevin, it was in relation to politics. Behind the scenes, Kevin was a committed and active Republican for most of his life. He was interned in Crumlin Road in the 1950s. Kevin recalled how he asked for a bigger bible to read in his cell, and, having sent the warder on a wild goose errand by feigning illness, somehow used the larger bible as a wedge to bust open the door of his cell. However, the ploy didn't work on the outer gates, and the would-be-escaper was re-apprehended. As Kevin remarked afterwards, "the truth can set you free in more ways than one".

Kevin played football for Trillick and for Tyrone minors and contemporary reports spoke of a "tricky" corner forward. Kevin and his good friends the McSorley brothers of Moneygar and the McAnespies would also have went to the All-Ireland final most years, regardless of who were playing. Once, faced with a massive queue, Kevin pretended to "faint" and was promptly carried in to a prime side-line seat by concerned medical personnel, to the mixed amusement and chagrin of his friends who were still stuck in the queue. Kevin delighted in the many county successes of the great Trillick team of the '70s and '80s and Tyrone's break-through All-Ireland success in 2003 meant a lot to him.

Kevin was also a sworn-in local poitin maker. Poitin makers took an oath of secrecy, and Kevin used his flair for banter and repartee tactfully to deflect attention from anything he didn't want you to know about. Once, having sold a large bottle to a local publican in a nearby village, Kevin and Matt Conlin set off on foot to deliver the poitin. Of course, the two boys sampled the merchandise extensively en route and were forced to fill up the bottle with some stagnant water out of a sheugh. Whatever was in the water, anyone who had some of the resulting concoction became ill and the poor publican's reputation suffered for a while afterwards.

Kevin once remarked that Trillick was "a comer of heaven" and that "if you don't have your neighbours, you've got nothing"; and those two remarks sum up much of his personality and priorities.
He is survived by his nephews and nieces (the Mac Canns, the Coyles and the Murphys, to all of whom he was a dearly-loved and lifelong confidant, mentor and inspiration) and by a wide circle of other relatives, neighbours and friends.

Ar dheis De go raibh a anam , dilis.

Month's Mind Mass for Kevin in Trillick on Saturday, August 24 at 8pm.

Kevin Barry Mac Cann, musician, farmer and political activist, bom Liner, Trillick 28 July 1921; died 27 July 2013.

Courtesy of The Ulster Herald Tweet

Most Read Stories