Music and fly fishing were Karl’s passions
THERE WAS widespread sadness across Wexford and beyond last week following the passing of popular and well known local man Karl Dunphy (43) of 47 Ashfield Drive.
Karl was a devoted husband to Elizabeth and a dedicated father to Ellie and Thomas. His family was the centre of his world.
The beloved son of Harry and the late Noël Dunphy and stepson to Christina Dunphy, he was loved dearly by his siblings Shane and Tara, his niece Marnie, his nephews Richard, Rhys, Jack and Conn, his mother-in-law Linda, his sister-in-law Deirdre and brothers-in-law Denis and Gerry.
Karl lived almost his whole life in Ashfield Drive, moving there when he was just three-years-old. He went to school, first in Kennedy Park and then Scoil Mhuire, and completed his secondary education in St Peter’s College.
It was while he was a student in Scoil Mhuire that he developed his great love of music – under the tutelage of Brigid Scully he found he had a talent, first for the tin whistle, and then the flute, and by the time he was ten years old he was rarely seen without one instrument or the other in his hand. Many years later, in his role as a music teacher, Karl was to work with Brigid Scully to establish the
Scoil Mhuire school band, and to develop a music programme for the students of the school, both of which initiatives brought music into the lives of many students.
Playing at school events was not enough for Karl, and he naturally progressed to becoming a member of St Patrick’s Fife and Drum Band, where he struck up a life-long friendship with Brother Bonaventure, who was Bandmaster at the time and became a very important mentor. The Boys’ Band was a huge part of Karl’s world, and he remained a proud and active member until his health made it impossible.
Karl studied music under Fintan
Cleary in St Peter’s, and went on to get his bachelor of arts degree in music at Waterford Institute of
Technology, where he also did postgraduate research on the work of Irish composer William Vincent Wallace.
During his college years he played with the hugely popular and influential orchestra Wexford Sinfonia, of which he was a founding member.
Karl is perhaps best known locally as a talented and much-loved music teacher, working for the County Wexford School of Music, and generously sharing his skills and abilities with students, young and old, all over the county.
In recent years he also enjoyed performing with the Clonard Folk Choir, who provided the music at his funeral service last week with beautiful sensitivity.
Karl’s other great passion was fly fishing. He had a deeply held respect for nature, and could name every bird, plant and insect he encountered. He applied this knowledge to the art of fly-tying, a craft in which he was a respected expert, creating his own lures and patterns and sharing his innovations with the wider fishing community, both locally and online. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of the sport, as well as a scientist’s understanding of entomology and the various species he attempted to replicate. He was a well-known member of the Wexford Angling Club, and as his battle with cancer was reaching its conclusion, he often joked that his goal was to ‘make it to the opening of the trout-fishing season’.
Karl had a quirky, dark sense of humour, and was a widely read science-fiction and fantasy fan, an interest he shared with his wife and children.
He was a quiet, self-deprecating man, who had an impact on a great many people. The high regard in which he was held could be clearly seen in the large congregation of mourners who came together, united in their grief, at Clonard Church last Thursday to say a final farewell to their dear son, brother, father and friend.
Karl left the world as he had lived, surrounded by his loving family.
May he rest in peace.