Eavan Murray ‘Genuine, full of warmth... he wouldn’t let you down’
“IT was the height of his Italia 90 fame. So it was like Jesus came to town,” Martin Kerins laughs.
Martin and his wife Anne, from Clarinbridge, Co Galway, enjoyed a friendship with Jack Charlton and his family spanning over 30 years.
Through a shared love of fishing, Jack visited the Kerins family, who then owned a B&B, every year in May for a week. He would come on his own, or with his wife Pat and their children, and for many years returned with six fishing buddies.
“They were the best of times. And when the kids were small, they would love having him around. It was the happiest times of our lives,” said Martin.
“I’ll tell you a story now, and I always thought it was the measure of the man. He was here one time, and he was guest of honour at the Clarinbridge Oyster Festival, and he was due to go down and launch it on a pony and trap. And the man came up to the house on the trap. My daughter
Elaine went out to mind the pony, and I brought the man in for the breakfast with Jack, and they had a great chat.
“They were getting ready and didn’t the heavens open, and it started teeming rain. They rang from the festival saying they would send up a car for Jack instead.
“They rang a couple of times, and I went in to tell Jack, and he said, ‘No, no, no, I’m OK. I’ll go down in the trap with the man who came for me’. It continued lashing, and they rang for the third time, and I shouldn’t have gone into him again, but I did, and I said, ‘Jack they are ringing again’.
“By Jaysus, he reared up, “Tell them to ring no more. I’ll go with this man who came for me. I don’t mind rain. Rain doesn’t bother me”.
“It shows how genuine he was. He wouldn’t let the man down who came for him. He was always doing kind things like that.”
Anne Kerins remembers an “ordinary and straight-forward man, full of warmth”. “But you wouldn’t cross him either,” she added.
“He was full of get up and go. Whereas Pat [his wife] was very easy going. They complemented each other so well. Their children were so lovely too.
“He loved Irish dancing. Miriam, our youngest, was about three when he first came here, and he adored her.
“She would be dancing and counting her steps saying ‘One, two, three’ and he would count along with her. Then every time he saw her after that, he would say ‘Come on one, two, three’, and they would dance.
“He became so at home here that if I were busy getting the breakfast ready, he would drop the kids to school.”
Martin and Anne last saw Jack two years ago. “Anne and I went over to see him in Newcastle. At that stage, he was recovering from a stroke and had a bit of memory loss, but it was still wonderful — a precious time.
“I’m very sad he is gone. I miss him. I’d love to go to the funeral, but with Covid I don’t think it would be the right thing to do. But we will be praying for him. Every Irish person should say a prayer for him; he was one of us.”