RIP: Tribute paid to late former Tipperary Star contributor

Thurles’ Tommy Barrett has paid tribute to the late Joe Foyle, who passed away recently.

Joe was a regular contributor to the Tipperary Star in years gone, regularly sharing letters to the editor on various topics.

In his tribute, Tommy said: “It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of Joe Foyle, who passed away recently in Dublin.

“Most readers of the Tipperary Star will know Joe from his many years writing letters to the editor on economics, the Church, and local affairs.

“Over the last number of years, Joe and I exchanged letters and emails about the old days, and he shared some wonderful memories of growing up in Thurles that deserve to be recorded. It was a pleasure to meet Joe on some of his visits to Thurles in recent years.

“Joe had a fantastic memory for the people and places of his youth. He wrote to me about speeding down the old Bowling Green field on homemade slides and how his father was involved in the building of the houses around there.

“He remembered all the old neighbours and told me stories recounting his memories of my own family.

“He recalled Henry Gouldsborough playing on the 1939 Harty Cup winning team alongside his oldest brother Patrick, and Con Gouldsborough who sadly went off to the Korean War and was lost in action.

“Joe wasn’t one to shy away from a good argument either. He joked with me about how he “locked horns” with my own grandfather back in the 1960s when Joe published a book campaigning against the GAA’s ‘Ban’ on foreign games.

“Joe’s family had a massive hand in shaping Thurles. His father was the foreman who built hundreds of council houses back in the 1930s and 40s including at Loughtagalla, the Derheen, Mitchel Street and Bohernanave.

“His father also built the old Market House and weighing scales that used to be in Liberty Square, and the Lady’s Well pump station. When the Foyles built their house beside the Swinging Gates on Slievenamon Road in 1945, Joe said it was the only new house on that side of the road at the time. He had great memories of walking that road into school and to the Cathedral with his brothers.”

“Joe told me that out of all his decades of writing for the Tipperary Star, the thing that gave him the most satisfaction was writing pieces that paid tribute to ‘ordinary’ everyday people.

“He believed the everyday people were the real heart of any community. We had planned to meet up for a chat the next time I was up in Dublin, but sadly we ran out of time. Joe might have spent many years away from Thurles, but as he said to me himself recently “I have left the area. But it hasn’t left me!”

“I want to express my deepest sympathies to all the Foyle family at this sad time. RIP Joe.”