Ballylongford sculptor gets order from TV’s ‘Big Bird’
May 1995
PADDY FITTZELLE from Ballylongford has dealt with some unusual orders for headstones in the course of his work as a monumental sculptor — but his most unusual request to date came from America in the past few weeks.
Paddy received a call from a Mr Carol Spinney from Woodstock, Connecticut, requesting that a special headstone be made for his mother-inlaw and shipped to the USA.
Nothing unusual about that, you might say — except that
Carol Spinney turns out to be the actor who has played ‘Big Bird’ in the popular children’s television programme ‘ Sesame Street’ for the past 25 years.
It turns out that in between dressing up in a large yellow costume adorned with feathers and keeping millions of children all over the world enchanted with his escapades, Mr Spinney likes nothing better than to escape to Ireland, where his favourite holiday spot is Parknasilla in south Kerry.
During one such trip to Parknasilla last summer, the popular actor heard about
Paddy’s beautifully-engraved headstones, and he got in touch with the Ballylongford man to order one for his mother-inlaw, who died in 1991.
“He was telling me that his mother-in-law’s name was Joan Patricia Noonan Gilroy, and she was of Irish descent. She was buried on the 200-acre park land site around his house, so he wanted a headstone with a Celtic Cross to mark her grave,” Paddy explained to The Kerryman.
“He heard about me when he was in Kerry last summer and he contacted me about doing the headstone. He wants one with a Celtic Cross on it, so we’re working on it at the moment.”
Paddy said he got chatting to Mr Spinney and soon discovered about his unusual occupation. The actor has been playing ‘Big Bird’ for 25 years and ‘ Sesame Street’ is as popular on American TV nowadays as it was back in the 1970s.
The headstone will be finished within a number of weeks and will then be shipped out to the U.S.
Mr Spinney told Paddy that he and his wife love Kerry and hope to return their for another holiday shortly.