Former Christian Brother (78) dies in road crash

A CO SLIGO town is mourning the loss of a much-loved literary and community figure in a weekend road tragedy.

John Hannon (78), who lived at The Courtyard, Ballymote, died in a single vehicle road accident near Swinford, Co Mayo, at around 7pm on Saturday.

He was travelling eastwards along the N5 when he lost control of his car which overturned, pinning him inside.

Local firefighters helped free him from his upturned car.

However, Mr Hannon, a former Christian Brother who taught with the order in many countries overseas, was pronounced dead at the scene.

His remains were brought to Mayo University Hospital in Castlebar for a post-mortem examination.

Mr Hannon was a native of the Ballymote area and returned to live there some years ago following his retirement from teaching.

He was a leading figure in the Ballymote Active Retirement Group.

His friends described him as “highly intelligent and a great lover of the arts”.

“He was a prolific writer and especially liked writing poetry,” said one friend.

“He also collected paintings from all over the world.”

Mr Hannon spent the best part of half a century on the missions. He also taught in a number of schools throughout Ireland.

He was a former head of the School for the Deaf, in Cabra,

Dublin.

He also worked in Roscommon CBS, O’Connell Schools, Dublin, and Coláiste Mhuire, Dublin.

Mr Hannon had travelled extensively, including to Australia, Lanzarote, Zambia, India, Africa and Spain, where he spent four months learning the language.