We deal here with JJ's death and funeral, and then that of my mother. Also my taking up with Janice, and Nessa's birth.

Added 2006: He and my mother had moved to a specially-built extension of my sister's house at Stonyhigh near Nenagh, where they were comfortable and well cared for. I did not see them very often, being heavily engaged in starting up my applied-cientific consultancy service in Dublin, on the fringe of the TCD Department of Statistics. I discovered a box of papers relating to this period, in 2005. I have catalogued these but not analysed them; they remain on the agenda.

My father died on August 23 1972 in Limerick hospital, where he had gone in for a relatively minor operation, but the anaesthetic it seems was too much for him. When last I saw him he was in intensive care, and we held hands. I had seen him earlier, before he went down, contentedly reading a detective story. Once he put his Berkeley book to bed, he felt he had done all he could, and he died relatively content, though he had shown up at a meeting in Athlone in early 1972, which was attempting, against the tide, to persuade Irish farmers that the EEC was to be viewed critically.

The timing of his death for me was unfortunate, as the International Federation of Operational Research Societies conference was taking place in Dublin, and I was scheduled to give a critical response to a keynote paper, on the topic of 'simulation', by Professor TH Naylor, of Duke University, North Carolina, a leading world authority. I had written the response-paper, and Maurice Foley, then a member of the Council of the ORSI, delivered it on my behalf. This paper I have over-viewed in the techno-economic stream, along with my response, which is accessible in full.

The funeral took place in Mount Jerome. He had the previous year provided for his and my mother's burial rights there, by claiming the burial place of their second child, Patricia, who had died in childhood, and erecting a stone; this he had omitted to do at the time. I have a 'derivative assignment certificate' dated May 22 1971 giving the ownership to me, and a receipt dated March 29 1971 for the purchase price from JJ. It relates to plot A75-411-40670. Some 20 or more years after he died, I got around to erecting a headstone, for which the earlier small one he put there for Patricia acts as a sort of plinth. There seems to be a tradition in the family of procrastinating such matters; I don't believe my grandfather has one. I am not sure if one exists for William, Annie or Sam; the latter was buried at Newcastle Co Wicklow, where he died in the sanitorium, and because Sam was there the other two went there. This neglect is a byproduct of the process of the scattering of the family.

To return to JJ's funeral, there was a service in Nenagh church, attended by substantial numbers of all religions, all of whom would have known my sister from her medical practice, and most of whom would have encountered my father on his many visits to Nenagh over the years, and knew him as a public figure who spoke out for farmers.

(*It may perhaps be possible to check out the attendance list?).

There was also a substantial attendance at Mount Jerome in the afternoon; I don't have an exact record of it, but I have a record of intent to communicate with a substantial list; some were there, some sent letters of condolence, some sent a wreath. I have grouped the following selection from the list under headings, and indicated who they were:

Educational, Professional and Research Institute Network:
Dr Ed Walsh (Head of NIHE Limerick)
*The Board of TCD
*John Sexton on behalf of the SSISI Council
*Sean Kelly (Agricultural College, Multifarnham)
EJ Flynn (Cork Scientific Council)
*Dr Tom Walsh and Olive Daly (Agricultural Institute; I remember TW turning up in person)
MJ Cranly (Institute of Industrial Research and Standards, also three members of his staff, including Fergus Cahill)
Dr Stan Nielsen (Secretary of the National Science Council)
*Dr DC Pepper (Chemistry Department, TCD)
Julian MacAirt (TCD Statistics Department)
Micheal Ross (Economic and Social Research Institute)
Oisin O Siochru (Economic Planning Manager, Aer Lingus)

Political Network
The Connolly Club (this was a Labour Party social club which I then frequented)
*Desmond Greaves (Editor of the Irish Democrat)
John de Courcy Ireland
Helen Hanrahan (Cork Common Market Defence Campaign)
Brendan Halligan (Labour Party)
Tomas Mac Giolla ('official' Sinn Fein)
Jim Ryan (Cork Wolfe Tone Society)

The flavour of this group suggests that JJ's active role in the 30s and 40s had been largely forgotten, and that my own role at the time, both via the Irish Times Science and Technology column and via active left-wing republican politics, was the primary influence. I have marked with an * people who I know knew JJ personally and would have had the measure of his contribution in his own right.

There was a memorial service on or about October 26 1972. The correspondence relating to this is annotated: Esther IV, 17, Mordecai's Prayer; Vulgate text, Jerusalem Bible; 1 Corinthians I, 18-31; Psalm 121. I have no idea who did the annotation. The Provost read the lesson.

(*There probably is a record of attendance; look this up?)

My mother died at Stoneyhigh, near Nenagh, on 23/05/1974. The funeral took place quietly at Mount Jerome, mostly family in attendance. I had a few letters of condolence, including one from Dr Stan Nielsen of the NSC, and one from Derry Kelleher, who was then active in the leadership of 'official' Sinn Fein.

Janice moves in

My legal wife Mairin occupied the upper part of the house, with her consort Fergal Costello. Una, Fergus and Aileen continued to live upstairs but contact was frequent. Gareth Mairin's son by Fergal, was born shortly after. The 'upstairs downstairs' scene persisted for some years; I took care of the garden and did the maintenance on the house. A legacy came through from my father, and with it we re-roofed the house.

Then in or about 1976 Fergal came into some money, and I raised a second mortgage on the house, so that Fergal and Mairin were able to buy a house in Monkstown, which was near to New Park Comprehensive where Fergus was at school, and handy for Aileen, who by this time was ready for second-level schooling. Janice and I then moved upstairs. Una who had been occupying the attic, after a spell in the Regional Technical College in Galway went off to the USA. Fergus moved in to the attic, and went to TCD to do music. Later he moved out to rent a house in Raheny with some fellow-students, and Aileen moved in to the attic, while she went to the National College of Art. During some of this time the garden flat was occupied by Tom Redmond, a leading CPI activist.

Nessa was born to Janice in December 1978. I deal with her schooling in subsequent modules. The precise dates of the sequence of events listed above need elaboration; perhaps they extended into the 1980s.

The extended family structure and the transition from a single household to two was facilitated by having adequate space, and sharing a common radical progressive political philosophy, and personal relations based on mutual respect.

Some navigational notes:

Copyright Dr Roy Johnston 1999