"James is dead but lives in my mind"

Maureen Perkins (Callery)
I briefly mentioned  my sister,  Maureen Perkins (nee Callery) in the home page.  Maureen, like myself, was born in County Mayo, but has lived for most of her adult life in Drogheda, Co Louth, close to our parents.  She was a librarian in Drogheda and later a school teacher .  She is passionately interested in preserving the native Irish language and she speaks Gaelic when she finds the opportunity.  She also paints and writes poetry.  The ode to our father, James, below was written as a tribute after his death in 1993.

ODE TO JAMES
                 
All souls night
Brings back memories.
Death and mortality
Haunt me.

James is dead
But lives in my mind,
A giant in stature,
Competent with pen and spade.
       
He reared us hard
As he had been reared
On the rugged land of Ulster,
Where he gathered stones from the hungry fields
Under the hard gaze of his father-
Back-breaking work, with little to eat,
The hunger did not end in Black '47.
         
James left the harsh land of his youth
But in spirit he never forgot his roots.
He dug and planted,
Made turf on the side of a mountain
And harvested both for his family

With the same intensity he tilled my mind
Planting seeds of knowledge
Which grew to bursting.

Maureen Perkins

Copyright 2002

The Lisdonish Callery Family
Grandad Mick & Mary Anne Callery's Family
Left to right : Harry - Aunt Mary's husband; James - my father, the eldest son.
Annie Theresa - married a local farmer named Pat Smith from Gallanbawn.
Thomas, known as Tim who served in the RAF during World War 2
Sr. Ambrose - a member of the teaching order of the 'Holy Family'
& on the right Uncle John  - see Uncle John's Account