Drogheda says farewell ‘Big Sam’
September 1989
THE man that Drogheda people knew as “Big Sam” was buried last Wednesday.
On a dismally wet morning Seamus Samuel Lennon- Goudi was laid to rest in St. Peter’s Cemetery, surrounded by about 80 people, some his friends from Homeless Aid, and from the area, but the majority, priests, nuns, clergy and the “carers” of the community.
Seven members of the clergy concelebrated his Requiem Mass in Our Lady of Lourdes, the chief celebrant, Fr. Larry Caraher, pointing out that, on that morning, for the first time since coining to our town, Sam Lennon had become “the central character in the life of the community.” While he had lived amongst us, said Fr. Caraher, Sam Lennon was never invited to any important town activity. He was never asked to any of our family and parish functions.
“Let’s be honest,” he told the congregation. “Sam was an outsider, an alien if you like.’ Yet, in his own way, Sam had made an important contribution to the lives of all who knew him.
He said Sam was a simple and gentle soul. He was honest and sincere and would, and did, share his last penny and drink with his friends.
He had problems, Fr Caraher said. “But this morning I stand back and ask myself if I had to experience the problems and illness that Sam had to endure for most of his life, would I have coped as well as he? Would I have been any better than he was?’
Fr. Caraher paid tribute to an organisation, which, he said, works continuously and tirelessly and with very little funding, for people like Sam. This was Homeless Aid. “Only the good Lord knows the work they do and the people they help.”
He said he hoped he would be forgiven for singling out three people who had been particularly good and kind to Sam. Sr. Cait of the Daughters of Charity, Sr. Anne-Marie of the Convent of Mercy and Betty Fagan from Navan, the proprietor of a nursing home who had cared for Sam when he was seriously injured some time ago.
Sam died in a caravan fire on the Bog Lane.