Retired Garda Frank passes away on birthday
THERE was great sadness across Wexford following the passing of retired garda Frank Cullinane on the day of his 89th birthday. Originally from Freshford, Co Kilkenny, Frank was taken to the heart of his adopted homeplace, except for when it came to matters on the hurling field, Frank maintaining his status as an avid supporter of the black and amber.
Born in Portlaw, Co Waterford, Frank was the third eldest in a family of ten. His family made the move to Freshford while he was quite young and, despite some tough times, he enjoyed a great childhood. He often used to say that it was a case of ‘first-up-best dressed’ and when sitting around the dinner table it was a case of ‘stretch or starve’.
From an early age, Frank had an increible work ethic and was a great provider for his family. It wouldn’t have been unusual for him to be up at the crack of dawn and have half a days work done in the garden growing vegetables before everybody else got up. When he was only a young lad he was quite entrepreneurial – he would hunt and snare rabbits rare and sell young pigs, had his own bee hives, thinned turnips under the moonlight and developed all sorts of creative ways to catch trout.
All these interests were developed out of necessity at the time to put food on the table, but instilled a love and appreciation of nature, of growing vegetables and fruit and outdoor living and fishing that he maintained for the rest of his life. He was passionate about his gardening right up until the time of his death. His other great passion was fishing and loved nothing better to do than go off down to the River Slaney, Hook Head or the Reservoir for a day’s fishing.
Being a Kilkenny native, it’s no surprise that Frank had a great interest in hurling, lining out at minor and junior level for the cats, often gainst Wexford. He was also part of a successful Freshford team in the late 50s scooping numerous county titles.
In 1954, Frank followed his father into An Garda Síochána, his brother Joe also joined soon after. In those days, new recruits were posted to the border to cut their teeth and learn their trade. He arrived in Inniskeen carrying a case, bike and a hurl and spent eight wonderful years on the border. He formed great friendships there and won more county and mid-Ulster hurling titles with Castleblaney.
Most importantly, however, he found true love there when he met his beloved Irene Clarke from Carrickmacross with whom he shared almost 60 happy years.
Soon after they got married, Frank was posted to Wexford Garda Station where they moved in 1962. They initially lived in the Faythe for a number of years before moving to Ard Carman and on to Belvedere Road where they lived for the past forty years.
Four children, Margaret, Kieran, Tom and Ray were to follow and eventually ten grandchildren. Family meant so much to Frank and he always insisted on having all the family home for every possible special occasion. He was so proud his children and grandchildren.
For many in Wexford, Frank will be fondly remembered as the School Garda or School Attendance Officer where he got to know so many young people in the town. In 1967 he went on to become Wexford’s first Juvenile Liaison Officer (JLO) as part of a new innovative scheme introduced at the time to prevent young offenders under the age of 17 being brought to court and avoiding gaining a criminal record. The scheme involved liaison between the young offender, the parents, the injured party and Frank acted as the liaison officer. This was a role he really loved and thrived in as he was great at working with young people. He always had a tremendous sense of fairness and justice and always believed in giving young potential offenders a ‘second chance’. He would go to great lengths to try to help people out and keep them on the ‘straight and narrow’ as he used to say.
Frank always had a strong sense of community and giving back to the community. He was so unselfish with his time and was involved in so many volunteer and community groups over the last 57 years in Wexford. He was very much involved in setting up and running Clonard Community Centre and youth groups in his early days, volunteering with St.Vincent de Paul in Oznam House hostel for homeless men. He served on the Board of Wexford Credit Union for many years and was a great supporter and advocate for the Credit Union. He was a founding member of Wexford’s ‘No Name Club’ which provided alcohol free entertainment for teenagers back in the 1980’s. He served as the School Traffic Warden which involved training young students on road safety. In the 1970s he was a founding member of Wexford’s Garda Sea Angling Club, where he continued to fish up until recent times. After retiring from the Gardaí in 1987, he spent some happy years doing security work in ABS Pumps (now Sulzer).
Frank had so many wonderful attributes – a wonderful husband and incredible father and Grandad. He was kind, caring and an incredibly hard worker and provider for his family. He had a quick witted sense of humour and was extremely modest. He had a very strong faith and had a strong sense of fairness and justice, but the one word that was consistently used to describe Frank was that he was a pure gentleman, in every sense of the world.
In a twist of fate, Frank was born on April 7, 1930, retired from An Garda Síochána on April 7, 1987, and passed away on April 7, 2019, after living a wonderful life.
Frank is survived by his beloved wife Irene, children Margaret, Kieran, Tom and Ray, his sisters Peggy and Joan and brothers Jimmy, Fr. Billy and Pat and the late John, Joe, Charlie and May. Grandchildren John, Mark, Sarah, Anne Marie, Kate, Laura, Ciara, Sadhbh, Tara and Ailbhe, daughters in law Margaret, Caroline and Mary and son in law Colm.
There was a big attendance at Rowe Street Church as people gathered to bid a fond and final farewell to a man greatly respected in his home community. He was afforded a guard of honour from An Garda Síochána before being laid to rest in Barntown cemetery. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam Dilís.