KILDARE OBITUARY: Paddy Behan, Clane

Born in Clane, Co Kildare in 1947, in what some might say were much “simpler times”, Paddy was the eldest boy in a large family, a family in which he played a large part himself.

His own Father, Pat, passed away at the age of 54 in 1973 and Paddy took on a fFather-figure’ role with great pride and care, looking out for his siblings and his own family as best he could.

Paddy’s brother, John, mentioned recently that the happiest memories of his childhood are of his time with Paddy — he would take seven or eight kids away on holidays in his Ford Capri, making sure that none was short of money.

In his book Clane, The Village We Knew published in 2006, all profits from which went to charity, and which was co-written with two of his best friends, Bryan Sammon and Liam Burke, Paddy recalled happy memories of his own childhood:

“My grandfather, Paddy Lavin, had a general grocer shop in Clane. He used to go to Clongowes Wood College about twice a month and purchase a large bath of dripping. 

“It would take two men to load and unload it. Everyone loved to have their rashers and sausages fried in College dripping. 

“I remember Emily O’Rourke, who lived with her Uncle Gareth in a small house across the road from Tony McKenna’s shop. She asked me for 1lb. of dripping, so I cut large pieces of dripping with a bacon knife and put them into a brown bag and slapped it up onto the weighing scales.

 “As I took it off, Emily shouted at me to put it back on the scales, as the indicator hand on the scales had not stopped moving. When I put it back on the scales, the hand stopped at 15oz. —  1oz. short of a pound. 

“Now,” she said, “put more dripping into that bag and don’t be rushing when you weigh something.”

Another memory related to his work with The Society for the Relief of the Poor & Aged, founded in Clongowes Wood College was when Paddy and friends “called to a house outside Clane where two old ladies resided. It was a hot May day and the house was a bit run-down. 

“When Bryan, Liam and myself went inside, we were amazed at the number of flies in the kitchen. They were everywhere — landing on the milk bottle, the loaf of bread and the butter, which were all over the table. 

“We asked the old ladies if we could get rid of the flies, and one of them asked, “what harm are they doing?” 

We drove down to John Blake’s shop and purchased two cans of fly killer. We asked the old ladies to step outside for a few minutes while we sprayed the interior. Ten minutes later there were dead flies everywhere — we swept them from the floor and filled a large bag full of dead flies. The two old ladies were not impressed, as they were so used to the flies — they missed their company.”

Paddy was a huge music lover, particularly music of the ‘60s and the showband era. The Miami Showband, The Dixies, Joe Dolan & The Drifters were some of his favourites, but The Royal Showband with Brendan Bowyer was his favourite of all time. In more recent times, his taste in music revolved around The Saw Doctors mostly and he would regularly attend their live gigs around the country. 

He would sing, I Useta Love Her and Clare Island on a regular basis. He was also known so sing Christmas songs at any time of the year!

Christmas was his favourite time of the year. He took great pleasure in decorating the tree and always added to his collection of Christmas lights each year.

Paddy was also a great lover of nature and took great pride in his garden and its upkeep. He has a birdbath and would spend lots of time standing by the window watching the different birds come and clean themselves. A robin used to wait at the back door step for him in the mornings. When he opened the door, the robin would come in and eat seed from his hand.

As one of the original members of his beloved Clane Lawn Tennis Club, he loved playing and maintaining its grounds; seeing flowers and lots of colour everywhere, made him happy.

Paddy never liked flying but in recent times he visited Spain, Portugal and Italy with his wife Breeda and other family members. He would also visit O’Malley’s Pub in Rathdowney every few weeks, as he loved to listen to live music, and if he could, he would join in and sing a few songs. Ray Lynam songs were his favourite while his favourite place there was the smoking area where he would interact with people, discuss music, weather and the matters of the day.

Paddy was a real family man and that is how he was raised. He wrote in his book:

“Growing up in the ‘50s, times were hard and money was scarce. I guess that what I have just said was uttered by every generation before me going back hundreds of years. Money was scarce for most families but one thing we were never short of was ‘love’ — the love of a great mother and father, the love between brothers and sisters, the loving kindness of wonderful grandparents, aunts, uncles and great neighbours. This meant we were happy most of the time and any extra was a bonus.”

Paddy loved his nieces and nephews and hearing their “good news” stories.  He was always happiest when he saw others around him had found happiness in some little way. Even on the morning of his funeral, family members were told numerous times that Paddy had a kindness about him, a way of making a person feel comfortable.

He loved his granddaughters, Shannon, Zoe, Brigit, and Grandson Daithi so much and was very proud of them.

Fondest family memories of Paddy surround trips to Donadea Forest (feeding the ducks!). He seemed to get an even bigger thrill from that than the kids, holidays in Wexford, Kerry, Galway and Wicklow, especially Glendalough, playing tennis on the College Road, and hearing his many stories from his days as the first Hackney driver in Clane. There are so many fond memories to share of Paddy.

He loved the Yeats poem, The Lake Isle of Innisfree:

‘I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the  honey-bee;

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a  purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I  hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the  shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

Paddy was very unlucky to have been struck down by such a rare and aggressive cancer, but his whole family feel extremely lucky to have had him in their lives; his smile, his humour, his kindness, his class.

Simply put, a gentleman. He will be missed every day. Slan agus beannacht.

Paddy is survived by his wife, Breeda, sons, Patrick, Enda and Ronan, daughter, Karen. grandchildren, Shannon, Zoe, Daithí and Brigit. son-in-law, Alan.  daughter-in-law,  Annie, brothers, Frank, Simon, Millus, Colm, Matthew, Edmond and John, sisters,  Breda, Martha, Mary (RIP) and Noeleen, mother-in-law,  Chris.

— Enda Behan