Tomwas well-knownforhiswork withSVPandRedemptoristchurch
THE death of Thomas (Tom) O’Reilly, formerly of ‘Lisdar’, Saint Alphonsus Road, Dundalk, and Darver, occurred on 17 September, 2017, in Lusk Community Nursing Home.
He was well-known for his voluntary work in Saint Vincent De Paul and at the Redemptorist church. and was a founder member of Saint Gerard’s senior citizens club.
Tom, in his 98th year, led a long and fulfilled life. He was the second youngest of a family of ten children born to Julia and Patrick O’Reilly of Darver.
In his early years, Tom worked in the GNR (Great Northern Railway) before joining Hibernian Insurance company.
He joined the St Vincent De Paul in 1969, and in 2002 was awarded the long service medal to mark 33 years of valued service to the organisation.
While president of the local conference, Tom managed to house two men who were sleep- ing rough.
In 1989, he was a founding member of Saint Gerard’s senior citizens club which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2014, and is still going strong.
He gave many years’ service as a collector in the Redemptorist church, and in that role assisted other charities on their collection day. He was a member of the first Redemptorist parish council.
Tom was also secretary of the Mansfieldstown cemetery restoration committee founded in 1996. This committee, led by him, restored the graveyard from a wilderness to a place of tranquillity.
It has won numerous prizes, and the citation from one such council award described the cemetery as ‘a little gem in the Louth countrysid’. It is also the place his parents are laid to rest.
Tom was also a very active member of his local Fianna Fáil Cumann for many years.
He was predeceased by his wife, Alice (nee Smyth); and is survived by his daughters, Patricia and Gerardine; and sons-in-law, David McKiernan and Bernard Traynor; grandchildren, Conor and Cliodhna and Brian, Sean and Orla.
Tom is sadly missed by his loving family.
He reposed at the residence of his daughter, Gerardine Traynor, Donabate, before being removed to Saint Joseph’s Redemptorist Church on 19 September.
Father Eamon Kavanagh CSsR celebrated a beautiful Mass that was enhanced by the singing of Sarah McCourt.
Tom was laid to rest in Darver cemetery alongside his dear wife Alice.