Canada based Tipperary man's memoir pays homage to his native Moyglass

Retired engineer Gerard Walsh has lived in Canada for over 40 years but never forgot his native Moyglass and has written a memoir that vividly recounts his life growing up in a farming family in the south Tipperary community.

“The Boy from Moyglass - A Personal Memoir of Bygone Days in Tipperary and Further Afield”, is a very personal account of the author’s family and life but also a valuable addition to the social history record of his home parish.

The memoir is partly dedicated to his late parents, Paddy, a dairy farmer and part-time contract agent with Thurles Sugar Factory, who grew up in Graystown, Killenaule, and Gertie (neé Power), a nurse from Priorstown, Kilsheelan.

It spans the years from their meeting in 1947 to 2001 when his father passed away. His mother died in 2000. Gerard is the second of the couple’s three sons. His brothers also left Ireland for foreign shores. Michael lives in England, while his late brother Pat, settled in Australia.

Gerard’s deep love, admiration and respect for his parents and his home parish shine through in the pages of “The Boy from Moyglass”.

In the preface, he writes: “I feel privileged to have grown up at Moyglass among truly honest and decent people. It was in an age when everybody was a neighbour. Not only did everybody know everybody else but everybody also knew everybody’s ancestors.”

He was greatly aided in writing the book by his father’s treasure trove collection of records, documents and diaries and his mother’s photo collection. They helped him to paint a picture of what life was like for a farming family living in a rural community like Moyglass in the 20th century’s middle decades.

The memoir’s early chapters are full of fascinating social history ranging from the arrival of electrification, the purchase of the first tractor on the Walsh farm to the arrival of televisions in local households in the 1960s. There are plenty of photographs and names of local people from Moyglass, detailed descriptions of Moyglass’ rich social, sporting and community life and

Gerard’s memories of his school days at Moyglass NS, Fethard Patrician Brothers primary and secondary schools.

Gerard told The Nationalist he wrote the memoir because he wanted to leave a record of his family’s time in Moyglass for posterity and future generations as they have now all departed from the community.

He began writing the book in 1994 and added to it over the intervening years. It was finally put together in the first six months of this year and published in June.

The front cover of “The Boy from Moyglass” features a picture of a commemorative stone and plaque erected at Moyglass cemetery in tribute to Gerard’s parents and family for their donation of the land for the extension to the graveyard.

The memoir also recounts Gerard’s college years in UCD, his year at the well-known Clonmel engineering and construction firm MF Kent & Co. after graduation, his emigration to Canada and the life he built there with his Kerry-born wife Deirdre and children Katielle, Patrick and Theresa, to whom the memoir is also partly dedicated.

Gerard was one of thousands of educated young people who emigrated from Ireland in the recession years of the 1980s.

He and his family moved back to Ireland in 1993 but returned to Canada in 1995. Gerard, who lives in Port Elgin, Ontario, worked as an engineer in the nuclear industry for most of his career, retiring in 2015.

He returns home to Ireland about every two years. He has first cousins, members of the O’Connell family, still living in the Moyglass area and another first cousin Paul Power lives at his mother’s homeplace at Priorstown, Kilsheelan. This is the second book Gerard has written and published.

The first was about his great-grandmother Kate Callaghan Lahart (1844-1906), who lived in Killenaule. It is available online on Blurb.

He has been a member of Tipperary Historical Society for 25 years and Tipperary Historical Journal has published a number of his articles. One of those articles, “A Tipperary Settlement and Tragedy on the Canadian Frontier” was reviewed in the Irish Times a few years ago.

Gerard has also supplied articles for the annual Fethard Newsletter that is published every Christmas.

He isn’t finished writing about his family history. He is currently writing a genealogyl book about his family ancestors called: “My Tipperary Ancestry” that he plans to publish next spring.

Copies of “The Boy from Moyglass” are available to purchase directly from the author who can be contacted via the email address: gerardwalsh657@gmail.com

Pictured below: The commemorative stone and plaque at Moyglass Cemetery that features on the front cover of the book. Picture Michael Butler