‘He never forgot the power of reading, and of books’
Tributes have been paid to the late Gerry Flannery, who passed away on July 6
“Gerry was a wonderful colleague, but more importantly, he was a great friend to so many of his library colleagues as well”.
Those were the words of county librarian Damian Dullaghan, remembering the late Gerry Flannery, who passed away on July 6.
Speaking with the Tipperary Star following Gerry’s passing, Damian Dullaghan spoke of the impact Gerry had on Tipperary’s libraries throughout his career, and the impact his loss will have on the communities he served.
"He worked with us for nearly 34 years, and dedicated his whole life and his whole career to librarianship and public service. He was an extremely witty person, he had a great sense of humour, a very dry sense of humour. He was very well loved by all his colleagues, he really was”.
“I suppose Gerry’s three biggest attributes were, firstly, he never forgot the power of reading, and of books. You know, we’ve taken on a lot of ancillary services in recent years in libraries, but Gerry has never forgotten that our core value is the books and reading, and that was hugely important to him.
“I think secondly, Gerry was very proud to be a librarian and a public servant. He was proud to be a librarian, and he was proud to work for Tipperary County Council. He believed in what he did, and that was a great position in life to be in, that he believed in what he was doing.
"And I suppose thirdly with Gerry was, he was a big believer in good customer service”
Gerry managed Roscrea Library for seven years, managed a team in Libraries HQ for close to 16 years, and then for his last ten years, he managed the Source Library, the flagship branch, in Thurles.
"And Gerry always believed in good customer service, looking after the public, and making sure they got what they needed and what they wanted, and he really believed in that, and I think he exemplified all that’s good about public service.
“On a personal level, I’ll miss him. I knew Gerry long before I arrived in Tipperary, I knew him when I was in Limerick. We often met up and shared advice, and worked together on different things. I’ve known him nearly a quarter of a century, and I’ll miss him, I’ll miss him terribly.”
On the impact Gerry’s passing has had on the Tipperary public, Damian said: “We’ve been flooded with messages. We’ve set up a book of condolences in Thurles Library, and already, it’s received huge feedback from people. We’ve set up a tribute page on our website and on our Facebook page, and we’ve been bowled over by the amount of comments that have been there about him, and all the good things he did, things that we didn’t know, just things he did every day, but yet at the same time, they were very important to those receiving them, the help, you know, and that was what made Gerry great, that he would do it unassumingly, he was very unassuming in a way.
"We didn’t know all of it because he just did it, and that was his nature”.
Tipperary County Council issued a statement shortly after his passing, offering their condolences and their memories of Mr Flannery.
“Gerry started work with Tipperary Joint Libraries Committee in 1993 and gave thirty-four years of committed and dedicated service to Tipperary Libraries.
"He was the longest serving staff member in the Library Service, and will be greatly missed by his friends, colleagues and the many people whose lives he touched throughout his time with us.
Many tributes were paid to Gerry online following his passing, with one artist remembering how he had supported and encouraged them on their very first exhibition.
"I remember being hesitant of selling one of my illustrations at €500. I remember telling you the price I was considering charging and you said to me immediately, ‘Don’t undersell yourself’. I was shocked and complimented big time that you thought I should have been charging even more! This same illustration SOLD.
“You brought me over to the kids book section in the library and showed me names of various children’s book illustrators, in attempts to encourage me to consider illustrating a children’s book one day. You believed in my art more than I did at the time.
"Gerry said plenty of other kind hearted words throughout the month of my exhibition. I certainly won’t forget you, until we meet again”.
Mr Flannery is remembered by his mother Mary and sister Sarah, colleagues, and a wide circle of friends.